What mineral deeds are

Mineral deeds are recorded instruments that sell oil and gas minerals, or a described fraction of them. The singular paper is a mineral deed. The packet in the mail often includes several mineral deeds, a royalty deed, a W-9, and a date that feels like a court deadline. None of that changes the legal effect: if you sign and it records, you conveyed.

Cover letters may say oil and minerals even when the mineral deeds only move a royalty slice. Read the granting clause, not the slogan. An oil and gas lease is not one of the mineral deeds — it is a term deal with bonus and royalty.

We buy mineral deeds — meaning we buy the minerals those deeds would convey. We also match owners with mineral buyers. Copies of every page plus the county are enough to start an offer, a match, or a counter. We do not promise to beat every letter.

Why mineral deeds show up in the mail

Buyers send mineral deeds in the first envelope because the “offer” is already formatted as a closing. That packet is a mineral deed offer. Heirs get hit hardest: the mailing list comes from recorded minerals, not from a conversation you started. See got an offer if a number is already on the cover letter.

• Mineral deed — typically executive rights, bonus, royalty, and delay rentals unless reserved.
• Royalty deed / NPRI — a slice of royalty without the right to lease. Still a sale of that slice.
• Warranty vs special warranty vs quitclaim mineral deeds — how much title trouble you promise to stand behind. Quitclaim is not “safer”; it can still move whatever you own.
• Assignment of overriding royalty — different from fee minerals; common in producing packages.

What mineral deeds actually take

Future bonus on a new lease. Royalty on wells not yet permitted. Deeper formations the current lease never reached. Executive rights so someone else decides whether to lease. If the mineral deeds are silent on reservations, assume you keep little. Location still matters: a non-producing heir tract in one parish is not a Permian royalty mill — see locations and the oil and gas map.

The acreage on the letter is the buyer’s working number. It is not a title opinion. Inherited interests are often undivided fractions across a section. Signing “all my minerals in X County” on mineral deeds can over-convey. Send the packet anyway — we start from the county and the paper.

How to respond when mineral deeds arrive

Do not notarize their mineral deeds to “start the conversation.” Ask, in writing, what net mineral acres they think you own, whether the interest is leased, and which wells or units they underwrote. Use the holding reply if you need a week, then send the mineral deeds here so we can try an offer, a buyer match, or a counter. If you already know you want to sell, that is still the same form — we buy and we match.