Law Atlas

Mineral Rights by State

Name: U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas
Creator: American Mineral Registry
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Mineral rights by state differ most on one question: what happens to a severed mineral interest that nobody uses. This atlas sorts all 50 states and D.C. into seven kinds of rule, from dormant mineral statutes to none at all, and marks how far each field was checked. Every rule found links to the statute it rests on.

Release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026
51 of 51 jurisdictions reviewed
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CC BY 4.0

What this atlas can and cannot tell you

It tells you what kind of rule each jurisdiction has for unused severed mineral interests, the period if there is one, what has to happen before an interest ends, and where to read the statute yourself. It cannot tell you whether a particular interest has been lost, who owns it, or what it is worth: that depends on deeds, recorded instruments, production history and the facts of the title, which only a title review can settle.

Researched and checked by American Mineral Registry against the official text wherever it could be read; review completed October 1, 2026. Reference research, not legal advice.

Key figures

Each figure is computed from the data on this page. Copy one with its scope and link.

18 of 51

18 of 51 jurisdictions have a dormant mineral statute under which an unused severed interest can lapse or be declared abandoned, subject to that statute's conditions. 15 more use a different mechanism, and AMR found no such statute in 18.

Scope: 50 states and D.C., statutes as read on October 6, 2026. Not a count of owners, interests or losses.

13 of 19

In 13 of the 19 jurisdictions with a nonuse rule, the interest does not end until the surface owner takes a step such as a notice, a recorded claim or a court action.

Scope: 50 states and D.C., statutes as read on October 6, 2026. Not a count of owners, interests or losses.

10 to 50 years

Where a nonuse rule has a period, it ranges from 10 to 50 years.

Scope: 50 states and D.C., statutes as read on October 6, 2026. Not a count of owners, interests or losses.

152 of 153

152 of 153 consequential fields (dormant mineral rule, forced pooling, surface damages, for 51 jurisdictions) were checked against official text or searched in the official code in this release.

Scope: 50 states and D.C., statutes as read on October 6, 2026. Not a count of owners, interests or losses.

Map

Each square links to that jurisdiction’s page. Letters repeat the rule type so the map does not depend on color.

Dormant mineral statute (18)
Prescription of nonuse (1)
Tax or work forfeiture (3)
Marketable title act (2)
Registration or claim rules (3)
Missing owner procedure (6)
No such statute found (18)

Mineral rights by state: bar chart of how many of the 51 jurisdictions fall under each rule type for unused mineral interests — **How many jurisdictions have each rule type.** 18 have a dormant mineral statute and 18 have no statute of these kinds in AMR’s search; the map above shows which.

Every jurisdiction

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Dormant mineral rule, forced pooling and surface damages by jurisdiction, release 2026.10.1. Select a column heading to sort.
			Ends without a surface owner step
Alabama	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	No statute found
Alaska	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	No statute found
Arizona	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	No statute found
Arkansas	Tax or work forfeiture	See rule	Unclear	Statute found	No statute found	Core rule cited
California	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Colorado	Tax or work forfeiture	See rule	No	Statute found	Statute found	Core rule cited
Connecticut	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	No statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Delaware	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	No statute found	No statute found	No statute found
District of Columbia	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	No statute found	No statute found	No statute found
Florida	Marketable title act	30 years	Yes	Statute found	No statute found	Core rule cited
Georgia	Tax or work forfeiture	7 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Core rule cited
Hawaii	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	No statute found
Idaho	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	No statute found
Illinois	Missing owner procedure	7 years	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
Indiana	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	Yes	Statute found	Statute found	Core rule cited
Iowa	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	Yes	Statute found	Statute found	Core rule cited
Kansas	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	Yes	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Kentucky	Missing owner procedure	7 years	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
Louisiana	Prescription of nonuse	10 years	Yes	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Maine	Dormant mineral statute	50 years	No	No statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Maryland	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	No statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Massachusetts	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	No statute found	No statute found	No statute found
Michigan	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	Yes	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Minnesota	Registration or claim rules	Fixed past dates	Not applicable	No statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Mississippi	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	Unofficial source cited
Missouri	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	No statute found
Montana	Missing owner procedure	See rule	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
Nebraska	Dormant mineral statute	23 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Nevada	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	No statute found
New Hampshire	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	No statute found	No statute found	No statute found
New Jersey	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	No statute found	No statute found	No statute found
New Mexico	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	No statute found
New York	Registration or claim rules	Fixed past dates	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
North Carolina	Registration or claim rules	Fixed past dates	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
North Dakota	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
Ohio	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Oklahoma	Missing owner procedure	15 years	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	Core rule cited
Oregon	Dormant mineral statute	30 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Pennsylvania	Missing owner procedure	See rule	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Rhode Island	Marketable title act	40 years	Yes	No statute found	No statute found	Core rule cited
South Carolina	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	No statute found
South Dakota	Dormant mineral statute	23 years	No	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
Tennessee	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	Statute found	Statute found	Core rule cited
Texas	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	No statute found	No statute found
Utah	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	No statute found
Vermont	Dormant mineral statute	10 years	Yes	No statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Virginia	Dormant mineral statute	35 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Washington	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	Statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
West Virginia	Missing owner procedure	7 years	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	Official text cited
Wisconsin	Dormant mineral statute	20 years	No	No statute found	No statute found	Official text cited
Wyoming	No such statute found	None	Not applicable	Statute found	Statute found	No statute found

Compare two jurisdictions

Pick two states to see the same fields side by side. Unknown fields stay marked as unknown. The comparison updates the address so you can share or reload it.

Dormancy comparison, and why the risk score was retired

The June 2026 edition ranked every jurisdiction with a 0 to 100 “Dormancy Risk” score. The generator that produced it gave 0 to every state it classed as having no dormant act, 45 to every “special” mechanism, and otherwise 100 minus 1.6 points per year over 10, held between 60 and 100; tied scores were then ranked alphabetically. Ten states shared a score of 84, so ranks 2 to 11 reflected only the alphabet.

That score could not carry what decides an owner’s position: whether the rule ends an interest by itself or only after a surface owner’s notice or a court case, what counts as use, and whether a simple recorded claim preserves the interest. It also listed Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin as having no rule, although each has a statute or procedure that can end or move an interest. Release 2026.10 retired the score and the ranks and compares the rules themselves instead. The June figures remain available, unchanged, in the archived June edition and the Zenodo deposit; the change record explains the decision.

Rule types, release 2026.10.1
Rule type	Jurisdictions	What it means
Dormant mineral statute	18	A statute under which an unused severed interest can lapse or be declared abandoned, subject to its conditions
Prescription of nonuse	1	Civil law prescription: certain mineral rights end after a period of nonuse unless interrupted
Tax or work forfeiture	3	An interest can be lost through unpaid taxes or a failure to work it, under a procedure the statute sets, such as a court petition or a tax sale
Marketable title act	2	A title act can cut off older recorded interests unless preserved; treatment of minerals varies
Registration or claim rules	3	Interests had to be, or must be, registered or claimed by deadlines the statute sets; loss follows only through the statute's own procedure, not a rolling nonuse clock
Missing owner procedure	6	A procedure for unknown or unlocatable owners, such as a trust or receivership, rather than lapse
No such statute found	18	A search of the official code found no statute of these kinds; the scope of the search is stated on the state page

The questions that matter for a specific interest are on each state page: what counts as use, what preserves the interest, who must act, and what the deadline tool can and cannot compute.

How the atlas is built

Each jurisdiction was reviewed in October 2026 against the official code, session laws, agency guidance and leading court decisions, read directly or through dated Internet Archive copies of the official pages where a state site could not be read directly. Every field carries its own evidence label, because a source for one rule does not prove another. The methodology defines each label, the source register lists every source with its access date, and changes and corrections records every change.

What each column records

The dormant mineral rule column sorts each jurisdiction into one of 7 kinds of rule for unused severed minerals, from a dormant mineral statute to no statute of that kind. The period is the number of years the statute counts, where it counts any. “Ends without a surface owner step” says whether the rule works by itself or needs a notice, a court case or another act before an interest ends. The forced pooling and surface damages columns record whether the jurisdiction has a statute of that kind; they do not compare thresholds, rates or procedures.

Review cycle and permanence

All 51 jurisdictions were reviewed for release 2026.10.1, and 152 of 153 consequential fields were checked against official text or searched in the official code. Law records are rechecked at least once a year and whenever a change is reported. Each release keeps its number, and earlier editions stay available in the archive, so a citation made today can still be checked later.

Editorial standards

The official text comes first, and each source in the atlas quotes the operative words, 60 words or fewer, with a pinpoint citation. A field resting on an unofficial copy says so. Corrections are made in public, with the date, the old and new reading and the source, and Research pages carry no offers or advertising.

Known limits

The atlas gives the headline rule, not every step of the procedure, and statutes differ in the minerals they cover, the events that count as use and the notice they require; the state pages carry that detail. “No statute found” records a search of the official code with a stated scope. Marketable title acts, tax sales, adverse possession, unclaimed property and title defects are outside the review unless a state page says otherwise. Nothing here is legal advice or a title opinion for a particular property.

Common questions about mineral rights by state

Which states let unused mineral rights lapse?

18 jurisdictions have a dormant mineral statute: California, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Louisiana reaches a similar result through its own rule, prescription of nonuse. Several others can end an interest by other routes, such as tax or work forfeiture, a marketable title act or a procedure for missing owners, and the table above names each one.

What is the shortest period?

10 years, in Louisiana and Vermont. The longest period among these rules is 50 years, in Maine, and most dormant mineral statutes use 20 years. Each period is counted the way its statute says, often back from a notice or a court filing rather than forward from a last use.

Do mineral rights lapse automatically?

Of the 19 jurisdictions with a dormant mineral statute or prescription, 6 have a rule that works by itself once its conditions are met: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan and Vermont. In the other 13, the surface owner or another party must give notice, record a claim or go to court before an interest ends, and the owner of record can usually still act in that window.

Which states have no dormant mineral statute?

33 jurisdictions have none. In 18 of them a search of the official code found no lapse, abandonment or forfeiture statute of any kind: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

The other 15 reach unused or unclaimed minerals by a different route: Louisiana’s prescription of nonuse, tax or work forfeiture, a marketable title act, registration rules, or a procedure for missing owners. None of this means an interest can never be lost, because deeds, tax sales and title rules still apply.

Does every state allow forced pooling?

No. 39 jurisdictions have a forced or compulsory pooling statute, and a search of the official code found none in 12: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. The state pages summarize each statute and link to its text.

How current is the atlas, and how should I cite it?

This is release 2026.10.1, with every jurisdiction reviewed against the official text by October 1, 2026. Cite the release and the page you used; ready citations are on this page under Cite the atlas.

Download the data

Files are versioned by release. The previous June 2026 edition is kept unchanged in the archive. All AMR datasets.

Cite the atlas

Cite the release you used. The DOI below identifies only the June 2026 edition, which this release corrects.

American Mineral Registry. U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas. Release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/mineral-rights-by-state

[U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas](https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/mineral-rights-by-state), American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).

<a href="https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/mineral-rights-by-state">U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas</a>, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).

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  author = {{American Mineral Registry}},
  title = {U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas},
  version = {2026.10.1},
  date = {2026-10-06},
  url = {https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/mineral-rights-by-state},
  note = {Supersedes the June 2026 edition, doi:10.5281/zenodo.20935348}
}

TY  - DATA
AU  - American Mineral Registry
TI  - U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas
ET  - 2026.10.1
DA  - 2026/10/06
UR  - https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/mineral-rights-by-state
N1  - Supersedes the June 2026 edition, doi:10.5281/zenodo.20935348
ER  -

Archival copy: the June 2026 edition is deposited at Zenodo as doi:10.5281/zenodo.20935348 (concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20935347). That deposit does not contain release 2026.10.1.

Embed the map

Publishers can embed the map and table. A credit link is welcome but optional, and you choose whether it is followed.

<iframe src="https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/embed/mineral-rights-by-state" title="U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas map" width="100%" height="760" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #d4dce8;border-radius:10px"></iframe>

General information about statutes, not legal advice or a title opinion. Published by American Mineral Registry, which also runs a commercial service for owners; see how the two relate.