State law reference
South Dakota Dormant Mineral Act
What does the South Dakota Dormant Mineral Act say? SDCL chapter 43-30A treats a severed mineral interest as abandoned if it has not been used for 23 years or more, and title then vests in the surface owner.
Official text cited Researched and checked by American Mineral Registry against the official text; review completed October 1, 2026. Reference research, not legal advice.
- Rule type
- Dormant mineral statute
- Period
- 23 years
- Ends without a surface owner step
- No
- Preservation filing
- Available
- Forced pooling statute
- Statute found
Official text cited - Surface damages statute
- Statute found
Official text cited - Deceased or unlocated owner
- Partly checked
How the rule works
Abandoned mineral interest statute, 23 years of nonuse, surface owner notice with a 60 day cure. SDCL chapter 43-30A treats a severed mineral interest as abandoned if it has not been used for 23 years or more, and title then vests in the surface owner. To succeed to the interest the surface owner must publish a notice of lapse for three weeks and mail it to the record owner's address of record, and the record owner still saves the interest by recording a statement of claim within 60 days after publication is completed. The chapter reaches any interest in oil, gas, coal, clay, gravel, uranium and all other minerals owned by someone other than the surface owner, except interests owned by a governmental body. No court action is required by the statute, although the one reported case was a quiet title action brought after the notice (Holsti v. Kimber, 2014 S.D. 21).
What has to happen
SDCL 43-30A-2 says title vests on the date of abandonment, but 43-30A-6 requires notice 'in order to succeed to the ownership'. The surface owner publishes a notice of lapse once each week for three weeks in the official newspaper of the county and mails a copy by registered or certified mail to the record owner at the address of record no later than ten days after the last publication. The surface owner may rely on the address of record in the register of deeds office; a mineral owner who keeps no address of record waives mailed notice. The notice states the record owner's name, the legal description and the name of the person giving notice. Recording the notice with an affidavit of publication and mailing in the register of deeds office is prima facie evidence that notice was properly given. The interest is not abandoned if the record owner records a statement of claim within 60 days after publication is completed (43-30A-5). The chapter does not require a court order; Holsti v. Kimber was a quiet title action that followed a published notice.
What counts as use or preserves the interest
43-30A-3(1): minerals are produced by or with the express permission of the record owner of the mineral interest
43-30A-3(2): operations are conducted for injection, withdrawal, storage, or disposal of water, gas, or other fluid substances to produce or enhance the production of minerals by or with the express permission of the record holder
43-30A-3(3): for solid minerals, there is production from a common vein or seam by or with the express permission of the record owner
43-30A-3(4): any valid conveyance, lease, mortgage, assignment, probate distribution, termination of joint tenancy interest affidavit, termination of life estate affidavit, transfer on death deed, or any judgment or decree that makes specific reference to the record owner's mineral interest is recorded within the last 23 years in the register of deeds for the county
43-30A-3(5): the mineral interest is subject to an agreement to pool or unitize
43-30A-3(6): a statement of claim is recorded in compliance with 43-30A-4
43-30A-3(7): a proper instrument describing the mineral interest was recorded before an affidavit recorded under prior law pursuant to SDCL 43-30-7
43-30A-5: a statement of claim recorded by the record owner within 60 days after completion of publication of the notice of lapse
Not a use since 2016: payment of taxes and a pooling order were struck from the list by SL 2016 ch 215, section 2; only an agreement to pool or unitize remains
Preservation filing
Statement of claim recorded in the register of deeds office for the county where the mineral interest is located, for the record owner, before the end of the 23 year period, containing the record owner's name and mailing address and a legal description of the land on or under which the interest lies (SDCL 43-30A-4). A joint tenant, but not a tenant in common, may record on behalf of the other joint tenants. It puts the interest in use on the recording date, so it restarts the 23 years. A statement recorded within 60 days after completion of publication of a notice of lapse also saves the interest (43-30A-5). Keeping an address of record with the register of deeds matters because without one the owner waives mailed notice (43-30A-6).
Scope
- Interests covered
- Any interest in minerals 'whether created by grant, assignment, exception, reservation, or otherwise, owned by a person other than the owner of the surface estate' (SDCL 43-30A-1). The text does not separate mineral fee, royalty or fractional interests, and it does not address leasehold or working interests expressly.
- Minerals covered
- Oil, gas, coal, clay, gravel, uranium, and all other minerals of any kind and nature (SDCL 43-30A-1).
- Exceptions
Mineral interests owned by any governmental body or agency (SDCL 43-30A-8)
The chapter may not be waived until the 23 year period has expired (SDCL 43-30A-7)
Water and water rights are not affected (SDCL 43-30A-10)
- Enactment and amendments
- Enacted by SL 1985, ch 338, and both prospective and retrospective in application (SDCL 43-30A-9). The 23 year period dates from the 1985 text. Amended by SL 1987 ch 318, SL 1995 ch 167, SL 2013 ch 222 and SL 2016 ch 215 (HB 1058, signed February 12, 2016). The 2016 act rewrote 43-30A-2 to 43-30A-6, removed tax payment and pooling orders as uses, tied uses to the record owner, made the 60 day cure run from completion of publication, and repealed 43-30A-6.1, 43-30A-11 and 43-30A-12. The 1985 session law was not read, so any original grace period for interests already dormant in 1985 is not confirmed.
Dates and what they mean
A last use date plus the statutory period gives only an illustrative anniversary: the first day the nonuse condition could be met if nothing that counts as use happened since. It is not a loss date. Try the dormant mineral rule finder.
Last use plus 23 years gives the earliest date on which the surface owner could start the notice procedure, not a lapse date. Ownership passes only after three weeks of publication, mailing, and 60 days after publication with no statement of claim, and any use or recorded statement of claim inside the 23 years restarts the count. A calculator can show last use plus 23 years if it is labeled as the earliest notice date and says the owner can still cure after notice.
Deceased or unlocated owner
Partly checked What the law of South Dakota 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. Whether heirs of a deceased record owner must receive notice under the 2016 text is open.
South Dakota's abandonment chapter is written around the record owner: production counts only with the record owner's permission, notice is mailed only to the record owner at the address of record, the surface owner may rely on that address, and a record owner who keeps no address waives mailing. Heirs are reached only indirectly: a recorded probate distribution or transfer on death deed referring to the record owner's interest is a use. The one Supreme Court decision, Holsti v. Kimber (2014), applied the pre 2016 text, held heirs own from death, and left open whether heirs must be notified. A separate chapter lets anyone with an interest in the tract ask the court for a county treasurer trust for an owner whose location or identity cannot be determined, but trustee acts are not use under the abandonment chapter.
- Owner of record has died
- Notice goes to the record owner at the address of record (43-30A-6); the provisions read do not mention heirs. A recorded probate distribution or transfer on death deed referencing the record owner's interest is a use (43-30A-3(4)). Holsti (pre 2016 text) held heirs owned from death and did not decide whether heirs must be notified.
- Current owner unknown
- Not addressed in 43-30A. Chapter 43-30B allows a court trust where the identity of the owner cannot be determined.
- Owner known but cannot be found
- Mailing goes to the address of record and the surface owner may rely on it; failure to maintain an address of record waives mailing (43-30A-6). Chapter 43-30B allows a court trust where the location cannot be determined; trustee acts are not use (43-30B-6).
How the nonuse rule treats these owners Statute and court decisions
Twenty three years of nonuse; uses are tied to the record owner in the current text. Holsti read the earlier text as not limited to the record owner.
Statute
A mineral interest unused for twenty three years is abandoned and title vests in the surface owner as of the date of abandonment. SDCL 43-30A-2
“A mineral interest is abandoned if it has not been used for a period of twenty-three years or more. Title to an abandoned mineral interest vests in the owner of the surface estate in the land in, or under, which the mineral interest is located on the date of abandonment.”
Scope: All severed mineral interests except those owned by a governmental body (43-30A-8). Silent on deceased, unknown or unlocated owners.
Production counts as use only if by or with the express permission of the record owner. SDCL 43-30A-3(1)
“(1) Minerals are produced by or with the express permission of the record owner of the mineral interest;”
Scope: Current text after SL 2016, ch 215. Subdivisions (2) and (3) use the same record owner or record holder permission test.
Court decisions
Under the earlier text, recorded leases by heirs who were not record owners were uses because that statute did not require the record owner. Holsti v. Kimber, 2014 S.D. 21, paragraph 16
“Yet the statute does not use the words "record owner" or "original deed."”
Scope: South Dakota Supreme Court, controls statewide. Applied the text of chapter 43-30A before SL 2016, ch 215, which inserted record owner language into 43-30A-3, -4 and -5 and rewrote 43-30A-6; whether this reasoning carries over to the current text is not decided. The current 43-30A-3 does use record owner language.
Heirs, devisees and successors Statute and court decisions
Recorded probate distributions, transfer on death deeds and similar instruments referencing the record owner's interest are uses; statements of claim are recorded for the record owner. Holsti: heirs own from death.
Statute
Recording a probate distribution, transfer on death deed, termination affidavit or decree that specifically references the record owner's interest within twenty three years is a use. SDCL 43-30A-3(4)
“Any valid conveyance, lease, mortgage, assignment, probate distribution, termination of joint tenancy interest affidavit, termination of life estate affidavit, transfer on death deed, or any judgment or decree that makes specific reference to the record owner's mineral interest is recorded within the last twenty-three years”
Scope: Transfers on death that are put of record. The provision does not say that a death or an unrecorded inheritance is itself a use.
A statement of claim is recorded for the record owner and must give the record owner's name and mailing address. SDCL 43-30A-4(1) and (2)
“(1) Be recorded for the record owner of the mineral interest prior to the end of the twenty-three-year period set forth in § 43-30A-2.”
Scope: Statements of claim. Subdivision (2) requires the name and mailing address of the record owner. The chapter does not say how heirs not of record file.
Court decisions
Devisees became owners of the mineral interest at the testator's death. Holsti v. Kimber, 2014 S.D. 21, paragraph 15
“Here, the heirs became the owners of Kvalheim's mineral interest upon his passing and in accord with the devise in his will.”
Scope: South Dakota Supreme Court, controls statewide. Applied the text of chapter 43-30A before SL 2016, ch 215, which inserted record owner language into 43-30A-3, -4 and -5 and rewrote 43-30A-6; whether this reasoning carries over to the current text is not decided.
Search required to find the owner Statute
No search duty; the surface owner may rely on the record owner's last address of record.
Statute
The surface owner may rely on the record owner's last address of record in the county register of deeds. SDCL 43-30A-6
“The surface owner may rely upon the record mineral owner's last address of record in the office of county register of deeds in which the mineral interest is located.”
Scope: Current text after SL 2016, ch 215. No search or inquiry duty appears in the chapter.
Who gets notice, and how Statute and court decisions
Registered or certified mail to the record owner at the address of record within ten days after the last publication; failure to maintain an address waives mailing. Whether heirs must be notified was left open in Holsti.
Statute
Notice must also be mailed by registered or certified mail to the record owner at the record owner's address of record. SDCL 43-30A-6
“Notice shall also be given by mailing a copy of the notice by registered or certified mail to the record owner of the mineral interest at the record owner's address of record no later than ten days after the last publication.”
Scope: Record owner only. Heirs, devisees and unknown owners are not mentioned.
A record owner who fails to maintain an address of record waives the mailing requirement. SDCL 43-30A-6
“Failure to maintain an address of record is a waiver by the record mineral owner of the requirement to mail a copy of the notice of lapse to the record mineral owner.”
Scope: Unlocated record owners and record owners with no address of record.
Court decisions
The court did not decide whether a surface owner must give notice of lapse to the heirs of a deceased record owner. Holsti v. Kimber, 2014 S.D. 21, paragraph 20
“Because the mineral interests have not been abandoned under SDCL 43-30A-2, we need not address the heirs' second issue”
Scope: South Dakota Supreme Court, controls statewide. Applied the text of chapter 43-30A before SL 2016, ch 215, which inserted record owner language into 43-30A-3, -4 and -5 and rewrote 43-30A-6; whether this reasoning carries over to the current text is not decided. The surface owners had mailed nothing because the record owner had died in 1969, and made no inquiry into his successors (paragraph 3). The trial court held no notice to heirs was required; that ruling was not reviewed.
Notice by publication Statute
Publication once a week for three weeks is always required; no condition precedent is stated.
Statute
The surface owner must publish the notice of lapse once a week for three weeks in every case. SDCL 43-30A-6
“The publication shall be made once each week for three weeks in the official newspaper of the county in which the mineral interest is located.”
Scope: All notices of lapse; no precondition to publication is stated.
How the owner responds or preserves Statute
Record owner records a statement of claim within sixty days after publication is completed.
Statute
The record owner saves the interest by recording a statement of claim within sixty days after publication of the notice of lapse is completed. SDCL 43-30A-5
“Failure to record the statement of claim within the time period provided in § 43-30A-4 does not cause a mineral interest to be abandoned if the record owner of the mineral interest records a statement of claim pursuant to § 43-30A-4 within sixty days after completion of the publication of the notice of lapse”
Scope: Record owner. The text does not mention heirs or other unrecorded successors.
Court, receivership or trust for missing owners Statute
Chapter 43-30B, trust for unlocated or unidentified mineral interest owners: court trust, county treasurer or other trustee may lease, due diligence showing, trustee acts are not use under 43-30A.
Statute
Any person holding an interest in the tract may petition the county court to declare a trust for a mineral owner whose location or identity cannot be determined. SDCL 43-30B-1
“Any person or entity who holds an interest in a particular tract of land may petition the court in the county where the land is located to declare a trust in favor of an owner of a mineral interest in the particular tract of land if the location or identity of the owner cannot be determined.”
Scope: Covers both unlocated and unidentified owners, which includes unidentified heirs as the text reads.
The petitioner must show due diligence in trying to locate or identify the owner and that a trust is in the owner's best interest. SDCL 43-30B-2
“If the petitioner can demonstrate that the creation of a trust is in the best interest of the owner and that the petitioner cannot, after due diligence, locate or identify the owner, the court may create a trust”
Scope: Trust petitions under chapter 43-30B. Due diligence is not defined.
The court appoints the county treasurer or another trustee with authority to sign leases, ratifications and division orders. SDCL 43-30B-3
“shall appoint the county treasurer or another person or entity as trustee of the trust, and shall authorize the trustee to execute and deliver a mineral lease, a ratification, a division order, or any other related document or instrument”
Scope: Trusts under chapter 43-30B; the trust lasts until a court order finds the owner has appeared and been identified (43-30B-5).
Nothing done by the trustee, petitioner or court under the trust chapter counts as use under the abandonment chapter. SDCL 43-30B-6
“No act taken by or upon the permission of a trustee, petitioner, or court under this chapter shall be considered use of a mineral interest under chapter 43-30A.”
Scope: A lease by a 43-30B trustee does not stop the twenty three year clock under 43-30A.
What a title review must establish
- Who is the record owner, and is there a recorded probate distribution, transfer on death deed or decree referencing that interest within twenty three years (succession)?
- Was notice mailed by registered or certified mail to the record owner's last address of record, or did the record owner maintain no address (notice)?
- Did anyone record a statement of claim within sixty days after publication was completed (response)?
- Is any share held by a 43-30B trustee, remembering that trustee leases are not use (special_mechanism)?
- Was the abandonment governed by the pre 2016 text, under which Holsti applies (mechanism)?
Dates. Abandonment if not used 'for a period of twenty-three years or more' (43-30A-2). Recorded instruments count if recorded 'within the last twenty-three years' (43-30A-3(4)). Publication 'once each week for three weeks'; mailing 'no later than ten days after the last publication' (43-30A-6). Response 'within sixty days after completion of the publication of the notice of lapse' (43-30A-5). The provisions read do not say that death pauses or restarts the period, and trustee acts under 43-30B do not count as use. The rule finder does not calculate this period.
What AMR searched. Read in full: SDCL ch. 43-30A and ch. 43-30B (via sdlegislature.gov API renderings of chapter 43-30A and title 43). Title 43 and title 45 full text searched for unknown, unlocat, whereabouts, cannot be located, missing, absent, escrow, unclaimed. Opinions read: Holsti v. Kimber, 2014 S.D. 21 (ujs.sd.gov) and Tvedt v. Bork, 414 N.W.2d 11 (S.D. 1987, CAP; former chapter 43-30, not relevant to owner status). CourtListener search for '43-30A' returned only these two. Not reviewed: Uniform Unclaimed Property Act ch. 43-41B, probate, quiet title. SL 2016 ch 215 was not read directly; its effect is inferred from the source notes on the current sections and the text quoted in Holsti. 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 heirs of a deceased record owner are entitled to notice under the current 43-30A-6, and whether Holsti's reading that heirs' leases are uses survives the 2016 record owner language.
Whether a recorded will or heirship affidavit that is not a 'probate distribution' qualifies under 43-30A-3(4).
No Supreme Court decision on chapter 43-30B was found.
Checked October 6, 2026. Also in the dormant mineral rule finder.
Forced pooling
Official text cited Yes. In the absence of voluntary pooling, the Board of Minerals and Environment or the secretary, on application of any interested person, shall enter an order pooling all interests in a spacing unit after notice and opportunity for hearing, on just and reasonable terms (SDCL 45-9-31).
Surface damages
Official text cited Yes. SDCL chapter 45-5A (1982) requires the mineral developer to give the surface owner written notice of surface disturbing activities at least 30 days before operations start (45-5A-5) and to pay damages for loss of agricultural production, lost land value and lost value of improvements caused by mineral development (45-5A-4), with treble damages possible for failure to negotiate in good faith (45-5A-4.1). Mineral development means exploration or drilling of an oil and gas well or mineral test hole commenced after June 30, 1982, and the ensuing oil and gas production operations (45-5A-3).
Taxes
Broad personal income tax: no. South Dakota does not have a personal income tax, so an individual's royalty income is not taxed by the state. Official text cited Source and notes.
Severance or production tax. 4.5 percent of taxable value plus a 0.24 percent conservation tax. Official text cited Full record: rates, exemptions, royalty owner share and sources.
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.
- SDCL 43-30A-2
“A mineral interest is abandoned if it has not been used for a period of twenty-three years or more. Title to an abandoned mineral interest vests in the owner of the surface estate in the land in, or under, which the mineral interest is located on the date of abandonment.”
- SDCL 43-30A-5
“Failure to record the statement of claim within the time period provided in § 43-30A-4 does not cause a mineral interest to be abandoned if the record owner of the mineral interest records a statement of claim pursuant to § 43-30A-4 within sixty days after completion of the publication of the notice of lapse”
- SDCL 43-30A-6
“In order to succeed to the ownership of an abandoned mineral interest, a surface owner shall give notice of the lapse of the mineral interest by publication. The publication shall be made once each week for three weeks in the official newspaper of the county in which the mineral interest is located.”
- SDCL 43-30A-1
“the term, "mineral interest," includes any interest in oil, gas, coal, clay, gravel, uranium, and all other minerals of any kind and nature, whether created by grant, assignment, exception, reservation, or otherwise, owned by a person other than the owner of the surface estate.”
- SL 2016, ch 215 (HB 1058), section 2, struck subdivision (6) of 43-30A-3
“Taxes are paid on the mineral interest on behalf of the owner;”
- Holsti v. Kimber, 2014 S.D. 21, paragraphs 1, 13 to 20
“In this quiet title action, the circuit court granted summary judgment, ruling that the surface estate owners had succeeded to the ownership of the previously severed mineral interests because those interests were abandoned for nonuse under SDCL 43-30A-2.”
- SDCL 43-30-1, 43-30-3, 43-30-7, 43-30-12 (survey only)
“who has an unbroken chain of title to any interest in land by himself and his immediate or remote grantors for a period of twenty - two years or longer, and is in possession of such land, shall be deemed to have a marketable record title to such interest”
Open questions for a specialist
This review did not settle these points. They are where a South Dakota title attorney or landman should look first.
SL 1985 ch 338 was not read; whether it gave owners of interests already dormant in 1985 a grace period to record a statement of claim is not shown in the current code.
Holsti v. Kimber (2014) read the pre 2016 text, under which heirs without a recorded deed could use the interest and recorded leases counted without a record owner link. Since 2016 uses must be by, with the permission of, or refer to the record owner. How the 2016 text treats unrecorded heirs and wild instruments has not been decided in any case found.
Holsti left open whether one co owner's use preserves the shares of other tenants in common, and whether the surface owner must make inquiry beyond the address of record before relying on publication.
Whether a recorded lease or other instrument executed by someone other than the record owner can count as a use under the 2016 wording of 43-30A-3(4).
No reported decision applying the 2016 amendments was found; later South Dakota Supreme Court decisions were not checked.
Common questions
Can mineral rights lapse in South Dakota?
Yes, but not by itself (Abandoned mineral interest statute, 23 years of nonuse, surface owner notice with a 60 day cure). In South Dakota an interest ends only after the surface owner or another party takes the steps the statute requires, such as a notice or a court action, and each step, with its citation, is under How the rule works.
How long before unused mineral rights lapse in South Dakota?
23 years. A mineral interest is abandoned 'if it has not been used for a period of twenty-three years or more' (SDCL 43-30A-2). Any use listed in 43-30A-3 restarts the count; recorded instruments count only if recorded 'within the last twenty-three years' (43-30A-3(4)). A statement of claim recorded before the end of the 23 year period puts the interest in use on its recording date (43-30A-4). After 23 years have run, a statement of claim recorded within 60 days after completion of publication of the surface owner's notice of lapse still prevents abandonment (43-30A-5).
How can an owner keep a South Dakota mineral interest from lapsing?
By recording the filing the statute provides before the period runs. What it must contain and where it is recorded are under Preservation filing above.
Does South Dakota allow forced pooling?
Yes. South Dakota has a forced pooling statute, summarized with its citation under Forced pooling above.
Does South Dakota require payment for surface damage?
Yes. South Dakota has a statute requiring operators to compensate surface owners, summarized with its citation under Surface damages above.
What changed
The June 2026 edition listed South Dakota as Can lapse / revert, lapse period 23 years. 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. "South Dakota Dormant Mineral Act." U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, release 2026.10.1, October 6, 2026. https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ south-dakota-dormant-mineral-act
[South Dakota Dormant Mineral Act](https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ south-dakota-dormant-mineral-act), U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
<a href="https:// americanmineralregistry.com/ research/ states/ south-dakota-dormant-mineral-act">South Dakota Dormant Mineral Act</ a>, U.S. Mineral Rights Law Atlas, American Mineral Registry, release 2026.10.1 (2026-10-06).
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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.