State law reference
Do Mineral Rights Expire in Hawaii?
Do mineral rights expire in Hawaii? HRS § 182-2 reserves to the State all minerals in state lands and in reserved lands, meaning land where the State or its predecessors reserved the minerals, and every patent or conveyance of state land must carry that reservation. No statute was found under which a privately held severed mineral interest lapses for nonuse or is cleared by a title act.
No statute found Researched and checked by American Mineral Registry by searching the text it could read, which turned up no statute on this point; review completed October 1, 2026. Reference research, not legal advice.
- Rule type
- No such statute found
- Period
- None
- Ends without a surface owner step
- Not applicable
- Preservation filing
- Not applicable
- Forced pooling statute
- Statute found
Core rule cited - Surface damages statute
- Statute found
Core rule cited - Deceased or unlocated owner
- Partly checked
How the rule works
No dormant mineral or marketable title statute identified; minerals in state and reserved lands are reserved to the State. HRS § 182-2 reserves to the State all minerals in state lands and in reserved lands, meaning land where the State or its predecessors reserved the minerals, and every patent or conveyance of state land must carry that reservation. No statute was found under which a privately held severed mineral interest lapses for nonuse or is cleared by a title act. The only way a reservation ends is a discretionary release, cancellation or waiver by the Board of Land and Natural Resources when a non mining use is of greater benefit to the State, which is not a lapse.
Scope
- Interests covered
- Not applicable; no lapse statute found. Chapter 182 governs state owned and state reserved minerals.
- Minerals covered
- Chapter 182 defines minerals to include oil, gas, coal, metals and all geothermal resources, excluding sand, rock, gravel and construction materials.
- Enactment and amendments
- No dormancy statute identified in the HRS chapter index (archived February 5, 2024) or in chapter 182 as read. Chapter 182 dates from L 1963, c 11, last amended in the sections read by L 2016, c 220.
- What AMR searched
- HRS chapter index (archived February 5, 2024) searched for mineral, mining, oil, gas, geothermal, marketable, land court, quiet, adverse and limitation: mining chapters are 181 (Strip Mining) and 182 (Reservation and Disposition of Government Mineral Rights); Title 28 (Property, chapters 501 to 527) has no marketable title or mineral lapse chapter; chapters 657 (Limitation of Actions) and 669 (Quieting Title) are general. HRS §§ 182-1 to 182-5 and 182-9.5 read. Full text search of the HRS was not possible because capitol.hawaii.gov was not available.
What “none found” means. AMR searched the official code for a dormant mineral, abandonment, lapse or forfeiture statute and found none. That does not mean a mineral interest can never be lost: deeds, title defects, tax sales, adverse possession and other rules can still affect ownership, and they are outside this review.
Dates and what they mean
There is no statutory nonuse period to calculate for this jurisdiction under the rules AMR reviewed.
No lapse mechanism found, so there is no date to compute.
Deceased or unlocated owner
Partly checked What the law of Hawaii says when the owner of record has died, is unknown, or cannot be found. It sets out the questions; it does not decide who owns an interest, whether a notice was valid, or whether an interest ended.
Why only partly checked. The official code could not be searched in full; the survey outside chapters 182 and 523A is limited.
Hawaii reserves to the State all minerals in state lands and in reserved lands, so for those minerals the owner is the State and the deceased, unknown or unlocated owner problem does not arise in the provisions read. No provision was found that addresses privately held severed minerals or their deceased, unknown or unlocated owners, but the full Hawaii Revised Statutes could not be searched because the official site was not available. The unclaimed property part covers mineral proceeds, which concerns payments rather than title.
- Owner of record has died
- Not addressed in the provisions read. For state and reserved lands the minerals belong to the State (P1, P2).
- Current owner unknown
- Not addressed in the provisions read.
- Owner known but cannot be found
- Not addressed in the provisions read.
How the nonuse rule treats these owners Statute
No lapse or nonuse mechanism. Minerals in state and reserved lands are reserved to the State, ending only by discretionary board release, cancellation or waiver.
Statute
All minerals in state lands or reserved lands are reserved to the State, subject to discretionary board release, cancellation or waiver. HRS 182-2(a)
“All minerals in, on, or under state lands or reserved lands are reserved to the State; provided that the board may release, cancel, or waive the reservation whenever it deems the land use, other than mining, is of greater benefit to the State as provided for in section 182-4.”
Scope: State owned and state reserved minerals only. Says nothing about privately held severed minerals.
Reserved lands are lands owned or leased by any person where the State or its predecessors reserved the minerals. HRS 182-1, definition of reserved lands
“"Reserved lands" means those lands owned or leased by any person in which the State or its predecessors in interest has reserved to itself expressly or by implication the minerals or right to mine minerals, or both.”
Scope: Definition for chapter 182; the mineral owner of reserved lands is the State.
Heirs, devisees and successors Not addressed in the provisions read
Chapter 182 read; it does not address heirs or successors of private mineral owners. Probate, heirship, quiet title, partition and receivership procedures of general application may apply and were not reviewed.
Search required to find the owner Not addressed in the provisions read
No search requirement in chapter 182 as read.
Who gets notice, and how Not addressed in the provisions read
Chapter 182 notices (182-4) concern mining lease applications on state lands, not owner status.
Notice by publication Not addressed in the provisions read
No owner status publication rule in chapter 182 as read.
How the owner responds or preserves Not addressed in the provisions read
No preservation procedure, because there is no lapse.
Court, receivership or trust for missing owners Statute
Only HRS 523A (unclaimed property), which covers mineral proceeds. Whether any other chapter provides for unknown or unlocated private mineral owners was not verified, because full text search of the HRS was impossible.
Statute
Hawaii's unclaimed property part defines mineral proceeds as amounts payable for extraction, production or sale of minerals. HRS 523A-2, definition of mineral proceeds
“"Mineral proceeds" means amounts payable for the extraction, production, or sale of minerals, or, upon the abandonment of those payments, all payments that become payable thereafter.”
Scope: Unclaimed property; reaches payments, not ownership of an interest. Presumption periods and claim procedures were not read.
What a title review must establish
- Are the minerals reserved to the State under chapter 182 or a predecessor reservation, so that no private owner exists (mechanism)?
- If minerals were privately severed, who are the current owners of record under general law (succession)?
Dates. No owner status period was found in the provisions read. The rule finder does not calculate this period.
What AMR searched. capitol.hawaii.gov was not available; HRS 182-1, 182-2, 182-4 and 182-5 and 523A-2 were read from Internet Archive snapshots of the official pages (September 30, 2023 to July 3, 2026). The October review's chapter index search (mineral, mining, oil, gas, geothermal, marketable, land court, quiet, adverse, limitation) was relied on only to choose chapters; no full text search of the HRS was possible. A point marked not addressed means only that the provisions read do not address it; probate, quiet title and other general procedures may still apply and were not reviewed.
Not settled by this review.
Whether any HRS provision outside chapters 182 and 523A addresses privately held severed minerals or their unknown owners.
Presumption periods for mineral proceeds under HRS 523A.
Checked October 6, 2026. Also in the dormant mineral rule finder.
Forced pooling
Core rule cited Narrow. HRS § 182-9.5 lets the Board of Land and Natural Resources, on its own motion or a mining lessee's petition, order lessees or owners of mineral rights on adjoining properties to operate under a cooperative or unit plan to prevent waste or increase recovery. It sits in the state mineral leasing chapter, which in practice governs state reserved minerals and geothermal resources; no oil and gas conservation act, spacing statute or spacing unit pooling procedure was found.
Surface damages
Core rule cited Narrow. HRS § 182-3 requires every holder of a state mining lease, where minerals by definition include oil, gas and geothermal resources, to post a bond conditioned on full payment of damages to occupiers, meaning surface fee owners and certain state lessees and assignees. Occupiers are reimbursed the full extent of damage from mining operations, including exploratory work and failure to restore, and may elect arbitration of damages and surface rental. It applies only to leases of minerals owned or reserved by the State, not to private mineral development.
Taxes
Broad personal income tax: yes. Residents are taxed on income from all sources, while nonresidents are taxed on Hawaii source income only and report rents and royalties with situs in Hawaii, where income from real or tangible personal property is sourced to the place the property has its situs. Official text cited Source and notes.
Severance or production tax. Not part of AMR’s October 2026 tax review, which covered 25 producing states; that is not a finding that Hawaii levies none. Use the state revenue agency’s own pages.
Not tax advice. Rates change and the cited source controls.
Sources for the dormant mineral rule
Each source was read on the date shown. Where an official site was not available, the official page was read through a dated Internet Archive copy and that is stated.
- HRS § 182-2(a)
“All minerals in, on, or under state lands or reserved lands are reserved to the State; provided that the board may release, cancel, or waive the reservation whenever it deems the land use, other than mining, is of greater benefit to the State as provided for in section 182-4.”
- HRS § 182-1, definition of reserved lands
“"Reserved lands" means those lands owned or leased by any person in which the State or its predecessors in interest has reserved to itself expressly or by implication the minerals or right to mine minerals, or both.”
Open questions for a specialist
This review did not settle these points. They are where a Hawaii title attorney or landman should look first.
How much privately owned severed mineral estate exists in Hawaii outside state reservations is unknown, and whether any non statutory doctrine affects it was not researched.
Sections 182-1 and 182-3 were read from 2023 snapshots; 2024 to 2026 amendments were not checked.
Common questions
Can mineral rights lapse in Hawaii?
A search of Hawaii’s official code found no dormant mineral, lapse or forfeiture statute, so an interest does not lapse through nonuse under a statute of that kind. Deeds, tax sales and title rules can still affect ownership.
Does Hawaii allow forced pooling?
Yes. Hawaii has a forced pooling statute, summarized with its citation under Forced pooling above.
Does Hawaii require payment for surface damage?
Yes. Hawaii has a statute requiring operators to compensate surface owners, summarized with its citation under Surface damages above.
What changed
The June 2026 edition listed Hawaii as Does not lapse, lapse period none. Release 2026.10 replaced that entry with the reviewed rule above, and retired the June risk score and ranking for every state. Release 2026.10.1 added the deceased or unlocated owner section. See all changes.
Cite this page
American Mineral Registry. "Do Mineral Rights Expire in Hawaii?" U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ do-mineral-rights-expire-in-hawaii
[Do Mineral Rights Expire in Hawaii?](https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ do-mineral-rights-expire-in-hawaii), U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
<a href="https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ do-mineral-rights-expire-in-hawaii">Do Mineral Rights Expire in Hawaii?</ a>, U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
@misc{amr_atlas_hi_2026101,
author = {{American Mineral Registry}},
title = {Do Mineral Rights Expire in Hawaii?},
howpublished = {U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1},
date = {2026-10-06},
url = {https://americanmineralregistry.com/research/states/do-mineral-rights-expire-in-hawaii}
} TY - ELEC AU - American Mineral Registry TI - Do Mineral Rights Expire in Hawaii? T2 - U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas ET - 2026.10.1 DA - 2026/10/ 06 UR - https:/ / americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ do-mineral-rights-expire-in-hawaii ER -
General information about statutes, not legal advice and not a title opinion. Facts about a specific interest decide the outcome. Published by American Mineral Registry, which also runs a commercial service for owners; see how the two relate.