Mineral rights acquired through legal acts are subject to the principle of bona fide acquisition.

The Property Law for the first time stipulates that the bona fide acquisition system applies to real estate, thereby establishing the legal basis for bona fide acquisition of mineral rights.

The Property Law stipulates: “The establishment, modification, transfer, and extinction of real property rights shall take effect upon lawful registration; without such registration, they shall not take effect, unless otherwise provided by law.”

In China, the principle adopted for changes in real property rights is primarily based on the registration effectiveness doctrine, with the registration opposition doctrine serving as an exception. For cases involving changes in real property rights through legal acts, the registration effectiveness doctrine applies. An important effect of real property registration is the presumption of right correctness: unless there is contrary evidence, the law regards the person recorded in the real property registry as the rightful owner of the property. Third parties who acquire rights in reliance on the entries in the real property registry—believing them to be correct—have their acquisition of rights recognized and protected by law.

According to the relevant provisions of the Property Law, the system of bona fide acquisition of mining rights refers to a situation in which a transferee acquires mining rights from a person who does not have the right to dispose of them, provided that the following conditions are met: First, the transferee was acting in good faith when acquiring the mining rights; second, the transfer was made at a reasonable price; and third, the transferred mining rights have already been registered in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

For the bona fide acquisition of mining rights and other real property rights, two additional conditions are required. The first condition is the existence of defects in the registration of mining rights. The system of bona fide acquisition of mining rights primarily arises when such registration defects occur. Registration serves as the means of representing mining rights; based on the presumption of validity inherent in mining right registrations, the transferee relies on the transfer of mining rights thus recorded. These registration defects mainly take the following forms: errors by the registration authority, such as mistakenly registering Party A as Party B; legal changes occurring outside the mining rights registry—for example, if Party A dies and Party B handles the inheritance registration, yet the true heir is actually Party C; or where the underlying legal relationship giving rise to the change in mining rights is invalid or has been revoked, yet the registration has not yet been canceled.

The second condition is that no opposition registration exists. This is because the purpose of an opposition registration is to convey information indicating that there may be errors in the registration, thereby undermining the presumption of validity of the registration and preventing it from enjoying full credibility. However, an opposition registration is a temporary measure designed to ensure that the true rights holder does not suffer losses due to the emergence of a bona fide third party before the registration error has been corrected. China’s Property Law provides for opposition registration and also stipulates that if the applicant fails to file a lawsuit within 15 days from the date of the opposition registration, the opposition registration will become invalid. Therefore, if a bona fide third party in mining rights obtains the rights after the opposition registration has become invalid, or if the opposition registration is determined to be invalid, or if the mining rights registry contains only errors other than those related to bona fide acquisition, the bona fide third party can still acquire the mining rights in good faith.

The bona fide acquisition of mining rights has legal effect. If the transferee acquires mining rights under the bona fide acquisition system, the original right holder is entitled to claim compensation for losses from the person who lacked the authority to dispose of the rights. According to the Property Law: “If damage is caused to others due to registration errors, the registration agency shall bear liability for compensation.” Therefore, if defects in the registration of mining rights are caused by negligence or errors on the part of the mining rights registration agency, the agency shall bear corresponding compensation liability.

Mineral rights arising from non-legal acts are not subject to the doctrine of bona fide acquisition.

According to the Property Law, where property rights are acquired through legal documents issued by people's courts or arbitration commissions, or through expropriation decisions made by the people's government, or via inheritance or bequest, such property rights shall take effect from the date on which the legal document or expropriation decision becomes effective, or from the time when inheritance or bequest begins. However, if the disposition of such property rights requires registration under applicable laws, the disposition shall not produce any property-right effects unless such registration has been completed—this is known as the "registration-based disposition" principle.

　　 With regard to real rights arising from non-legal acts, although they may be publicized without registration, such rights may not be disposed of without registration. In the case of mining rights, even if a holder of a mining right acquired it through a non-legal act and thus qualifies as a lawful rights holder, the disposal of that mining right will lack real-right effect unless the mining right has been registered. Moreover, a transferee of a mining right cannot acquire the right in good faith merely by virtue of public notices such as legal documents issued by courts or arbitration commissions, or expropriation decisions made by the people's government. In other words, the system of bona fide acquisition of mining rights applies only to mining rights that are recorded in the mining rights registry.