PERMFILE100850 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

and gravel as not capable of being separated. The dispute regarding Plaintiff/Intervenors is a little more straightforward in the sense that language of the reserva- tion under which the Plaintiff/Intervenors' claim is gas, oil and mineral rights. ." with respect to Intervenor Marion E. Shaw, and "minerals, metals and metalliferous substances" with respect to Intervenor The Bernice P. Houser Trust. Although Intervenor Shaw expressed a passing opinion that he now believes his grandparents meant to reserve the sand and gravel rights as part of the general mineral rights reserva- tion, no evidence of that was presented except for Shaw's unsup- ported opinion, nor was any such language contained on the deeds. Shaw's opinion that a reservation of mineral rights included sand and gravel was based upon his belief that this was the general intent of the parties 40, 50 and 60 years ago and believed that the incident wherein the Reams family paid out money for sand and gravel on a reservation of mineral rights supported his opinion. The Reams family paid money to the holders of [he mineral rights on this ranch because they felt sand and gravel was part of the minerals and they were obligated to do so. They did not consult an attorney in this regard and just felt it was fair. Shaw's grandparents originally owned the property at one time and Shaw expressed a familiarity with the property during his childhood until age 13. Shaw testified he was now a retired teacher and school administrator but involves himself in prospecting and mining. Shaw testified that the grave! itself has value and that the black sand found interspersed in Che gravel deposits was of primary value to him. Black sand was generally described by the witnesses as that material which comes from the weathering of rocks containing precious metals so that the precious metals, primarily gold and silver, is covered with iron oxide creating the black sand appearance. The precious metals are often coated with iron oxide so that [he old way of extraction through the use of mercury will not pick up the metals. The testimony indicated that new technology can now extract these metals economically if the price of gold and quantity of metals are sufficiently high. Defendant Silver Hawk acknowledges that Defendant does not own any mineral rights and does not claim any. Silver Hawk acknowledges the right of the other parties to extract minerals, however claims that the so-called "black sand" deposits that are intertwined with the sand and gravel, are de minimis in nature and that the cost of mining the black sand deposits is not feasible under any circumstance. The essential dispute between the Defendant and Plain- 7