Who owns the Gold in your back yard?

Most people would be surprised to find out that while you may own property, developed or otherwise, the odds are the mineral rights under your property have been sold and split up many times (and not by any government entity). So to answer your question, chances are you would not own the huge gold nugget you unearthed in your garden. Nor would you own the oil underneath it if you would hit oil while shooting at a rabbit like Jed Clampett. Nationalization of oil, coal, gold would never happen for one simple reason. Large mining companies own federal legislators.