diff --git a/pyop2/base.py b/pyop2/base.py
index f814799da..ee60c2a33 100644
--- a/pyop2/base.py
+++ b/pyop2/base.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 import types
 from hashlib import md5
 
-from pyop2.datatypes import IntType, as_cstr, _EntityMask, _MapMask
+from pyop2.datatypes import IntType, as_cstr, _EntityMask, _MapMask, dtype_limits
 from pyop2.configuration import configuration
 from pyop2.caching import Cached, ObjectCached
 from pyop2.exceptions import *
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ def global_to_local_begin(self):
         assert self._is_dat, "Doing halo exchanges only makes sense for Dats"
         assert not self._in_flight, \
             "Halo exchange already in flight for Arg %s" % self
-        if self.access in [READ, RW, INC]:
+        if self.access in [READ, RW, INC, MIN, MAX]:
             self._in_flight = True
             self.data.global_to_local_begin(self.access)
 
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ def global_to_local_end(self):
         Doing halo exchanges only makes sense for :class:`Dat` objects.
         """
         assert self._is_dat, "Doing halo exchanges only makes sense for Dats"
-        if self.access in [READ, RW, INC] and self._in_flight:
+        if self.access in [READ, RW, INC, MIN, MAX] and self._in_flight:
             self._in_flight = False
             self.data.global_to_local_end(self.access)
 
@@ -1647,7 +1647,7 @@ class Dat(DataCarrier, _EmptyDataMixin):
     """
 
     _globalcount = 0
-    _modes = [READ, WRITE, RW, INC]
+    _modes = [READ, WRITE, RW, INC, MIN, MAX]
 
     @validate_type(('dataset', (DataCarrier, DataSet, Set), DataSetTypeError),
                    ('name', str, NameTypeError))
@@ -2121,6 +2121,9 @@ def global_to_local_begin(self, access_mode):
             halo.global_to_local_begin(self, WRITE)
         elif access_mode is INC:
             self._data[self.dataset.size:] = 0
+        elif access_mode in [MIN, MAX]:
+            min_, max_ = dtype_limits(self.dtype)
+            self._data[self.dataset.size:] = {MAX: min_, MIN: max_}[access_mode]
 
     @collective
     def global_to_local_end(self, access_mode):
@@ -2134,7 +2137,7 @@ def global_to_local_end(self, access_mode):
         if access_mode in [READ, RW] and not self.halo_valid:
             halo.global_to_local_end(self, WRITE)
             self.halo_valid = True
-        elif access_mode is INC:
+        elif access_mode in [MIN, MAX, INC]:
             self.halo_valid = False
 
     @collective
diff --git a/pyop2/datatypes.py b/pyop2/datatypes.py
index b8115b1c6..7fcf14088 100644
--- a/pyop2/datatypes.py
+++ b/pyop2/datatypes.py
@@ -50,3 +50,21 @@ class _EntityMask(ctypes.Structure):
     _fields_ = [("section", ctypes.c_voidp),
                 ("bottom", ctypes.c_voidp),
                 ("top", ctypes.c_voidp)]
+
+
+def dtype_limits(dtype):
+    """Attempt to determine the min and max values of a datatype.
+
+    :arg dtype: A numpy datatype.
+    :returns: a 2-tuple of min, max
+    :raises ValueError: If numeric limits could not be determined.
+    """
+    try:
+        info = numpy.finfo(dtype)
+    except ValueError:
+        # maybe an int?
+        try:
+            info = numpy.iinfo(dtype)
+        except ValueError as e:
+            raise ValueError("Unable to determine numeric limits from %s" % dtype) from e
+    return info.min, info.max
diff --git a/test/unit/test_api.py b/test/unit/test_api.py
index eb0e05018..f14a4905c 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_api.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_api.py
@@ -790,12 +790,6 @@ def test_dat_initialise_data_type(self, dset):
         d = op2.Dat(dset, dtype=np.int32)
         assert d.data.dtype == np.int32
 
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize("mode", [op2.MAX, op2.MIN])
-    def test_dat_arg_illegal_mode(self, dat, mode):
-        """Dat __call__ should not allow access modes not allowed for a Dat."""
-        with pytest.raises(exceptions.ModeValueError):
-            dat(mode)
-
     def test_dat_subscript(self, dat):
         """Extracting component 0 of a Dat should yield self."""
         assert dat[0] is dat