Belville Mining Company, Cross-Appellants v. United States of America, Cross-Appellees

I

In Ohio, the surface rights and the mineral rights to a given tract of land may be conveyed separately. Gill v. Fletcher, 74 Ohio St. 295, 302, 78 N.E. 433 (1906). However, the Ohio Supreme Court has held1 that “[t]he right to strip mine for coal is not implicit in the ownership of a severed, mineral estate” and that the inclusion of “language peculiarly applicable to deep mining techniques” in a deed “conveying] the right to use the surface incident to mining coal” does not, without more, allow the grantee to strip mine the coal. Skivolocki v. East Ohio Gas Co., 38 Ohio St.2d 244, 67 O.O.2d…