Owning your own gravel pit

[Carp-fisher]

Hi all,

I've heard about people making deals with sand/gravel excavation companies in which the company will extract sand and gravel from their land with the agreement that the excavation site will then turn into a pond/small lake. So in the end, the land owner ends up with a water front property and potential hot fishery and the excavation company gets their goods. Anyone have experience with this or heard about it? Thanks,

Ben

[Ufatz]

Sure. It happens often. If you have such a property talk to a proffesional realtor. Have the area analyzed by a sand- and -. gravel man Find an attorney. Etc.

[BobT]

One thought. I can't say this is 100% accurate but I believe my neighbor went into an agreement with a contractor to sell some gravel but was unaware that he needed a license to sell the gravel. Supposedly he ran into some issues.

Might want to check into this before you dig.

Bob

[Carp-fisher]

Thanks for the input on this. I imagine there is a lot of red tape and liability associated with this. I suppose a good first step would be contacting the DNR and getting their advice.

[UMDSportsman]

depending on the size i know there are certain things you have to have, i know that one just down the road from my house was 1/2 an acre under the limit to need a certain water study thingy, i forgot the name. it was talk i think that they stayed just under the number so they would not have to have that permit. It dealt with the water level, testing the water before and after i think. I know my dad is sitting on 79 acres of gravel. He has thought about selling to a gravel company, but he said if he does he will have a third party come in and bore it, test it and tell him how much is there, that way he would would have more bargaining power.

[Coach Dog]

There are two main options. Sell the land or the miner pays you a royalty for every ton of material they take. There are also programs where they reclaim the land when done. These days, there are more regulations in place from an environmental standpoint (water table, storm water runoff, erosion, etc.). If you are seriously interested in this, let me know. Most companies that are interested will pay for soil testing and borings.