How are Mineral Rights passed down?
In a typical situation, mineral rights will be passed down through a will, just like any other property. Through this, you can either be transferred mineral rights or begin a mineral rights lease. To transfer rights, you'll need an attorney to confirm your rights to the minerals, and then a mineral deed will be created. If the previous owner leased out their rights to a mineral acquisition company such as Rocking WW, the executor can transfer the lease to you so the mineral royalties then go to you.
Do I Own Minerals? How to Determine Mineral Rights Ownership
There are several ways to find out if you own mineral rights. Some easy ways include:
1. Family records and deeds. Check first with your family or any previous owners of your property to see if they know anything about who owns your mineral rights.
2. Checking your local tax records for title deeds. These can tell you if there was a previous mineral rights owner of a property.
3. Loan and foreclosure records. If the bank ever took over a property, the mineral rights may have also been passed to them.
Does Wyoming tax Mineral Rights?
Yes, Wyoming does tax mineral rights. However, unlike other states, Wyoming only taxes mineral rights once: when they're produced (drilled). Wyoming does not tax mineral rights based on the estimated value in the ground before the minerals are extracted.
What is a Fair Market Value of Mineral Rights?
There are quite a few stipulations when it comes to fair market value. Fair market value of mineral rights must be a fair equivalent to cash, and around the average value typically paid for mineral rights acquisitions. The property must also have been offered to the market for a reasonable time. However, mineral rights transactions are typically not publicized, so it may be difficult for you to find the right value for your mineral rights. However, at Rocking WW Minerals, we have the experience necessary to give you the best, fairest deal for your mineral rights.
How Long Do Mineral Rights Last? Do Mineral Rights Expire?
Every mineral rights agreement is different. However, most mineral rights agreements can last anywhere from 2 to 20 years. There is typically a primary, and sometimes a secondary, term for mineral rights leases that determines mineral rights expiring, depending on if any drilling has occurred.
What are Mineral Royalties? What is the Difference Between Mineral Rights and Royalties?
Mineral royalties are a type of mineral right. A mineral royalty is owned by an investor of the mineral rights who receives mineral royalty payments, a share of the profit, that comes from a mine or the minerals being produced. There are both net and gross royalties. Net royalties deduct production costs, while gross royalties encompass the total value of the minerals, without any deductions.
Why Do We Want to Buy Your Mineral Rights?
Think of us like any mutual or index fund you might be familiar with. Just as they aim to deliver stable returns while managing risk through a diversified portfolio of US stocks, bonds, and international equities, so does RWW. Instead of investing in equities, we’re creating a diversified portfolio of mineral and royalty interests; through investing millions across the Rockies, we can mitigate the development and production risk within our portfolio. It is also important to note that unlike an individual owner, we have the ability to limit our exposure to volatile commodity prices by taking advantage of oil hedges on the futures market.
What We Do
Simply put, Rocking WW Minerals, LLC (RWW) specializes in mineral and royalty acquisitions across the oil and gas producing regions of Wyoming and North Dakota. When we refer to “minerals” we mean the subsurface interests that produce oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons. Having ownership of minerals enables an owner to grant a company a lease for the right to explore for and develop the hydrocarbons underneath the surface; “royalties” represent the portion of the proceeds owed to an individual upon the successful development of the minerals. Most often, the royalties are directly tied to the minerals but may get severed off and conveyed or sold separately.
RWW was founded by a team of experts that have spent their careers on the exploration and production side, bringing a wealth of knowledge and technical expertise to mineral and royalty acquisitions. We’re not speculators, brokers, or flippers – we’re the end buyer, which means in working directly with us, you’ll cut out the middleman and get the most out of your interests. We founded RWW in Wyoming with one main premise in mind: cut out the middleman, the brokers, the speculators, the flippers – and ensure the grassroots mineral owners are getting top dollar.
How would selling my minerals affect my family members that also own interests?
Mineral interests are typically held as tenants in common as “undivided interests,” meaning each party is free to will, sell, or mortgage their interest without affecting one another.
>>Let’s use a quick example to clarify this “undivided interest” language before we confuse you too much. Let’s say you own 25% of the S/2 of a 640-acre section. The S/2 would not be then divided into 4 smaller pieces, rather you would own 25% of all the minerals under that S/2.
This is why oil and gas companies must lease from all parties, and each party is free to negotiate their own lease form and royalty rates. Selling your minerals will not impact the remaining undivided interests in a given tract.
I need money, but don’t want to sell my minerals, what are my other options?
They’re your minerals – you don’t have to sell all of them – or any of them. Selling a portion of your minerals may be a good way to generate the cash you need without parting with the whole family heirloom. As an alternative, if you are interested in taking a loan from RWW and pledging your minerals as collateral (rather than surface), please contact us.