Net Mineral Acres
Your share of a tract expressed in acres — the gross acreage multiplied by your undivided fractional interest. A one-eighth interest in a 640-acre tract is 80 net mineral acres.
Why it matters when you sell
Bids are quoted per net mineral acre, so this figure is the common denominator every competing offer gets compared on. It is also the number most frequently overstated when a sale begins, because an owner describes the whole tract instead of the slice of it they actually hold — and title review corrects that at the point in the process where it costs the most leverage.
Example
A family describes their position as "the minerals under 640 acres." The deed shows an undivided one-half interest, split equally between two siblings. The tract is 640 gross acres, the family holds 320 net mineral acres, and each sibling holds 160. At $9,000 per net mineral acre each sibling's interest is worth about $1,440,000 — not the $5,760,000 that quoting the gross tract would suggest.
What to have in hand
Work out your net mineral acres before you ask for offers, and be able to trace the fraction through every deed and probate behind it. Arriving at market with a figure that survives title review is worth more than arriving with a larger one that does not.
Related terms
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