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mineral rights

(1) ' Mineral rights are property rights that confer upon the holder the right to exploit an area for the minerals it harbors. Ownership of mineral rights is the right of the owner to exploit, mine, and/or produce any or all of the minerals lying below the surface of the property. The mineral estate of the land includes all organic and inorganic substances that form a part of the soil.' -- Wikipedia.

(2) Selling a mining company the rights to whatever minerals might lie beneath your land is a "Shylock's bargain" because in selling your mineral rights you agree that the mining company has the legal right to destroy all your property above the ground while the miners dig down to where the minerals supposedly are. If only William Shakespeare's Portia* were a real woman lawyer, she would have gotten the miners' case thrown out of court lickety-split -- as is only right and proper, considering how idiotic and truly insane the notion of "mineral rights" really is. And yet, it unbelievably is the law of this great country of ours, where EVERYONE is said be equal, NOT just the billionaire owners of mining companies. -- Dinkum

* Portia is a character in Shakespeare's play "Merchant of Venice".

PLOT SUMMARY: Shylock makes Antonio a loan which says: if Antonio is unable to repay, Shylock may take a pound of Antonio's flesh. Shylock takes Antonio to court; if Shylock wins, he intends to cut out enough of Antonio's heart as would satisfy the terms of the loan -- and kill Antonio.

EXAMPLE:

' "Don't matter if you care," the old miner said, "if you don't own what you care about." He pointed out that the mineral rights to the entire county in which they sat were owned by the Rosewater Coal and Iron Company, which acquired these rights soon after the end of the Civil War. "The law says," he went on, "when a man owns something under the ground and he wants to get at it, you got to let him tear up anything between the surface and what he owns."

' The truth was that Rosewater . . . had been among the principal destroyers of the surface and the people of West Virginia. '

-- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel "Breakfast of Champions" -- Chapter 14 (page 125 - 126).

* Portia's closing argument at trial: In court, Antonio's lawyer is a woman in lawyerly disguise, who just happens to be Portia, friend of Antonio. Portia deftly appropriates Shylock's argument for 'specific performance', and points out that the contract only allows Shylock to remove the flesh, not the "blood", of Antonio. Thus, if Shylock were to shed any drop of Antonio's blood, his "lands and goods" would be forfeited under Venetian laws. Further damning Shylock's case, she tells him that he must cut precisely one pound of flesh, no more, no less; she advises him that "if the scale do turn, But in the estimation of a hair, Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate."

by Dinkum August 6, 2013


Murder Miners

Classic XBox 360 indie title and ported to PC, developped by JForce. Murder Miners is a first person shooter game with destroyable environment. The game also offers a map creation mode. People can also compare Murder Miners to a mixture of Halo and Minecraft.

Playin' Murder Miners on my PC, getting everyone onto VC, whoopin' yo' ass on parkour, Murder Miners League I'm hardcore.

by FyterX October 26, 2019


miner mistake

Tongue-in-cheek reference to Texaco's seemingly-insignificant error of drilling a 14"-diameter bore-hole into da roof of da Diamond Crystal Salt Company's hacked-out chasm underneath Lake Pigneur; as we all know, though, said comparatively-tiny geological puncture was ANYTHING BUT "miner" --- I mean, minor!

Poking a merely-foot-two-inch-diameter hole into da roof of a hollowed-out salt-cavern may indeed not sound very serious or dangerous, but when you consider dat (1) there was an entire lake on top of said fissure, and (2) da material surrounding said unintended vent was largely composed of readily-dissolvable salt --- which of course would just erode away and thus rapidly make said erroneous orifice progressively bigger --- said "miner mistake" was hardly "small potatoes", after all!!

by QuacksO December 31, 2024


Rage miner

One who seeks to cause another or a group of others to rage on social media.

Impy is trying to be a rage miner but he's just a fail troll.

by B3£1GHT December 31, 2022


Coal miners tea party

Double dicks on dicks

She loves a good coal miners tea party.

by KY123456 March 10, 2018


mighty miner

the mine shaft this bloke digs up is up his nose hes always sticking it up always finding new ways. he is retarted
once he used a tissue as a shovel and ate that shit right up

oh shit mighty miner is at it again, fuck hes gross

by so_povish747 June 30, 2023


carbonated mineral water

carbonated mineral water is one of the best freaking drink on the planet. It is sparkling water and it tastes sooo good, a lot of my friends disagree.

Me: Plz give me the best freaking drink on the planet.
Jordan: So you mean carbonated mineral water.

by Emmie Z January 29, 2021