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Study in NZ to look into ownership rights to minerals in geothermal fluids

Study in NZ to look into ownership rights to minerals in geothermal fluids Well heads at Hellisheidi power plant of Reykjavik Energy (source: flickr/thinkgeonergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 25 Nov 2013

A law professor in New Zealand will work on a study to examine and possibly provide recommendations for how to deal with ownership rights to minerals in geothermal fluids.

A law professor at the University of Waikato has received a financial grant of Nz$69,000 for a study into the ownership rights to minerals in geothermal brine.

Dissolved minerals in the geothermal brine has also been topic in an article in the Think GEOENERGY Magazine, where we talked about the different projects that have been set up to derive valuable minerals from brine.

The study to be conducted by law professor Barry Barton will analyse the different options under the current legal environment in New Zealand and provide recommendations for necessary changes that would clarify the issue of ownership.

The grant is provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and is part of a larger two-year science project by GNS in New Zealand. The project is set up as an interdisciplinary project that it s looking at value maximization from geothermal resources.

Source: Scoop Media