[pontifier]

I looked into buying over a square mile of Utah desert just south of Duschesne a couple of years ago. I hiked all over it and it was beautiful. I found out that the mineral rights had been split off, and started to look into what that meant for me. It basically meant that I couldn't stop them from drilling. I had to let them enter, build roads, and drill basically as much as they wanted. (there were already survey markers for future roads and at least 4 drill sites). It also meant that I wouldn't be able to dig a hole more than 3 inches deep without their permission, and if I found anything, it belonged to them.

The price was very low but I decided against that headache.

[nihilist_t21]

I am quite familiar with Duchesne County from my work. But yes, the right of ingress and egress applies to holders of mineral rights. I am sure there are bad apples, but the clients I've worked with have been very accommodating to surface owners when it comes time to drill. They want everyone to be happy and to get compensated for what occurs.

I only have experience in the Western states, but this it is very frequent to find the the mineral rights have been long severed from the surface rights. Typically it is when the original patentee of the tract sells the surface they end up reserving the mineral rights.