Is shale a mineral? (Marcellus Shale)

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | 22 September 2011 | Timothy Puko

[Erik Latranyi]

Given the liberal jealousy of landowners who became rich from signing natural gas leases, I am just waiting for the liberals to try and declare shale gas a "public" resource that is owned by government.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Marcellus Shale? Is that a football player? ;^)

[crusty old prospector]

Oil is not a mineral either so why would they not lump it in with natural gas. Neither is coal, for that matter.

[Scythian]

What the “Frack” is going on ... ?

[null and void]

Is it animal, mineral or vegetable?

[SunTzuWu]

Shale is a sedimentary rock. It isn’t a mineral though it does have minerals in it. Ultimately it doesn’t matter because nobody is mining the shale.

[SpaceBar]

Obviously torts and contracts is easier than strat/sed with a lab.

[TigersEye]

If the bio theory of petroleum genesis is true then it isn’t purely a mineral and in some sense is alive. lol

[Roccus]

I guess PA doesn’t have COG rights.

[mountainlion]

Is it animal, mineral or vegetable?

NO!

[null and void]

Ah! It’s a spiritual entity then....

[Tax-chick]

Minerals are solids, each with a distinct crystalline structure, by (geologic) definition. Shale is a mineral, but natural gas isn’t. Oil isn’t a mineral, either. However, if oil is legally a “mineral,” then certainly gas ought to be.

[mountainlion]

Ultimately it doesn’t matter because nobody is mining the shale.

Call is slate and use it for building material.

[Truth29]

"If the bio theory of petroleum genesis is true then it isn’t purely a mineral and in some sense is alive. lol"

Better watch out, Bolivia is going to the UN to confer rights on all living things.

[billakay]

The justices have ruled that any land deal involving "mineral rights" -- but not specifically including gas or oil -- essentially does not transfer those oil and gas rights along with the minerals.

The article specifies that oil isn't a "mineral" in PA either.

[mountainlion]

Ah! It’s a spiritual entity then

Close the congregation of the holy earth are being used by the new world order to keep terrorists happy and rich so the NWO can take over the world.

[from occupied ga]

Marcellus Shale

I thought he was a rapper.

[SunTzuWu]

Call is[sic] slate and use it for building material.

Slate is a metamorphic rock. It was shale at one time but then it was subjected to heat and pressure which turns it into slate.

[IMR 4350]

That’s exactly why you always get an Oil Gas and Mineral Lease.

They can’t even sell the salt water from a well without paying you for it.

[djf]

Shale is sedimentary rock and has no unique, fixed crystalline structure. You have contradicted yourself.

It would probably fit into the description of “mineral” if the question is “Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” but it would not be classed as a mineral (a crystalline or semi crystalline material of fairly unique chemical composition) in geologist terms.