My sister and I have recently inherited 40 acres from our father. He had owned and lived on this property almost 70 years. The house is a very small modest farmhouse with garage. Many years ago, a rock quarry started business in the river bottoms close to this property. This business now owns much acreage in the community. The property that surrounds my father's property on 3 sides is owned by this quarry. They are only working the property that is connected to the back side of dad's land, estimated 20 acres of property between quarry operations and dad's property line. We are planning to sell this property in the summer and have been approached by 2 people already expressing interest in buying for residential purposes. Most of the acreage is wooded, but logged about 12 years ago. It has been residentially appraised for $125,000 and timber appraised for $10,000. The quarry owners are interested in the property, but I haven't spoke to them directly yet. I believe the quarry would be the highest bidder. If this property were to be used for residential, it would have to have a lot of work done to the house. I have been advised by some businessmen that I should have an appraisal done by an expert in mineral potential. The land that the quarry has acquired in the area through the years has been purchased for varying amounts of course, but I think that none has gone any higher than $4400 per acre, but I also doubt that any sellers had a mineral appraisal done either. My questions are - what's your opinion of value of land that's adjacent to a very successful quarry and do you think I should get a commercial mineral appraisal [what's the correct title]? If so, where do I begin my search for one. Thank you.

Last edited: Mar 2, 2007

• 2

  I have been advised by some businessmen that I should have an appraisal done by an expert in mineral potential.Thank you.

I would take this advice and ignore most of the replies you will receive in here. You might wish to read this article.

//www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,255534,00.html

Last edited: Mar 2, 2007

• 3

Richard, Your link does not work.

Smithhill, Interview general appraisers [you need someone beyond a residential cert] and find one that has considerable experience in mineral, timber and land development appraisal. This will be an expensive appraisal, however it is far less expensive than under pricing.

Search for one here: //www.ASC.gov/content/category1/nr_intro.aspx?id=10

If you give the town, maybe someone on the forum can give you local advice.

Good luck.

• 4

Sorry Wendy, it should work now. I was in too much of a hurry. The gulls are swarming over a school of mullet and I'm going to close shop for a few hours.

• 5

We have an appraiser who is active on this board and who specializes in mineral rights valuations [Terrel]; I'm sure he'll see the topic and be able to give you extremely [i.e., it doesn't get any better] knowledgeable feedback.

Last edited: Mar 2, 2007

• 6

Denis beat me to it. Contact Terrel, he I'm sure will have some good advice.

As far as a residential use...wow, I would not want it...I had an uncle that lived very near a quarry in Spencer IN and boy was it noisy.

edit: I just Terrel an email asking him to look at this thread.

Last edited: Mar 2, 2007

• 7

  Sorry Wendy, it should work now. I was in too much of a hurry. The gulls are swarming over a school of mullet and I'm going to close shop for a few hours.

My 1pm trip to the creek just got cancelled.....catch one for me!

• 8

A friend of mine from LA sent me a recent article about a MLB pitcher [for the Dodgers, I think] that owned some land in Vermont or some such place. He was doing a family member a favor and purchased it because they needed some cash. As it turns out, there is supposed to be $1-billion+ "rock" reserves on the property? Some geology professor commented that the rock might exist under the land, but the cost to get it out was significantly prohibitive.

Regardless, the land is worth much more because of this discovery than what it was purchased for[which was probably at a higher than market value price anyway!].

Just an anecdote to support your decision to seek a qualified opinion regarding mineral rights.

Good luck!

• 9

I am not a quarry appraiser but I do know one in Ohio area who would be more helpful as well as closer to you. They specialize in quarry appraisals.

//www.mineralappraiser.com

My own experience is that adjacent land to a quarry, if the quarry wants land, will bring a premium over residential lands, maybe as much as 50%, but rarely more. They would desperately need land or have a quarry in an especially good location [next to 4 lane and on-going major construction] to beat that imho...that's just a general rule. A start up mine in a new location will always bring out opposition and the mine has to build the infrastructure. I have attended seminars with fellows as the web address above.

• 10

My sincere thanks to all who've replied to my post. Terrel, I will check out the website you gave me, that's the kind of info I need. Richard, I read the article. I appreciate from all of you your time and opinions in this matter, and will take the next step to gain more information. Knowledge is power! Smithhill