(a) In the absence of fraud, negligence, or willful trespass, the measure of damages for the wrongful working and abstracting of another’s minerals is the value to the person from whose property they were taken at the time of the taking of the minerals in their native state, before severance. (b) If the minerals were abstracted furtively or in bad faith the measure of damages is the value of the minerals ready for market without allowance for labor and expenses.
Maryland Legal Code