§61. Compulsory unitization order not an obstacle; establishment of mining plan is an obstacle

A. Issuance of a compulsory unitization order establishing a unit that includes all or part of a tract burdened by a mineral servitude does not constitute an obstacle to its use.

B. The inclusion of land burdened by a servitude that includes the right to develop lignite or coal in a mining plan to conduct surface lignite or other forms of coal mining and reclamation operations is an obstacle to the use of that servitude with respect to all land included in the mining plan provided the following requirements are satisfied:

(1) Lignite or another form of coal susceptible of being mined has been discovered as a result of acts committed on the land or due to acts providing a reasonable basis of proof of the discovery of the mineral.

(2) A mining plan for the ultimate production of lignite or other forms of coal, together with a permit issued by the appropriate government official, is filed in the conveyance records of the parish or parishes in which the land burdened by the servitude is located.

(3) The mining plan along with any amendments thereto, provides for the ultimate production of the lignite or other forms of coal from the land burdened by the servitude.

(4) Actual mining operations have begun on land included in the plan, although such operations are not being conducted on the land burdened by the servitude.

Prescription shall begin to run again when reclamation operations on the land burdened by the servitude are complete, the land burdened by the servitude is deleted from the mining plan, or there is no longer in effect a permit for lignite or other form of coal mining and reclamation as to any land included in the mining plan, whichever is sooner.

Acts 1974, No. 50, §61, eff. Jan. 1, 1975. Amended by Acts 1982, No. 780, §1.