Chap. 49.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Chapter 472 of the Acts of Assembly

of 1924, as amended, approved March 22, 1924, relating to certain claims to

minerals, coals, oils, ores and other sub-surface substances, under certain writ-
ten instruments ; and presumptions as to such claims, {H 175]

Approved February 22, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That chapter four hundred seventy-two of the Acts of Assembly
of nineteen hundred and twenty-four, as amended, approved March
twenty-two, nineteen hundred twenty-four, be amended and re-enacted,
as follows:

In any case where a claim to minerals, coals, oils, ores, or sub-surface
substances, in, on or under lands in this Commonwealth except lands ly-
ing west of the Blue Ridge mountains, or the right to enter such land
for the purpose of exploring, mining, boring and sinking shafts for such
minerals, coals, oils, ores, or sub-surface substances is derived or reserved
by any writing made thirty-five years or more prior to the institution of
the suit hereinafter mentioned, and (a) said right to explore or mine has
not for a like period been exercised, and for a like period the person or
persons having such claim or right have never been charged with taxes
thereon but all the taxes on the land have been charged to and paid by the
person or persons holding the land subject thereto, and for a like period
no deed of bargain and sale of such claim or reservation in such mineral
rights in the lands embraced in such claims has been recorded in the
clerk’s office of the county wherein the said lands are located; or (b)
when the right to explore and mine has been exercised and the minerals,
coals, oils, ores and sub-surface substances in or on the land have been
exhausted, and the right of mining or boring has been abandoned for a
like period; in such cases, it shall be prima facie presumed that no miner-
als, coals, oils, ores, or sub-surface substances exist in, on or under such
land, and it shall be lawful for the owner or owners of the land subject
to such claim or right separately or jointly to bring a suit in equity in the
circuit court of the county wherein the land, or a part thereof, is situated
praying for the extinguishment of such claim or right, to which suit shall
be made parties defendant the person by whom such claim by said writ-
ing, was derived or reserved, or his successors in title, by name so far
as known, and as defendants unknown, so far as such successors in title
are unknown. The court shall allow a period of not less than six months
from the time the cause is docketed and set for hearing to elapse within
which time the defendant or defendants may explore and discover com-
mercial minerals, coals, oils, ores, or sub-surface substances, if any, and in
the absence of satisfactory evidence to the contrary, it shall be presumed
that there are no commercial minerals, coals, oils, ores, or sub-surface
substances in or on the land, and the court shall enter a decree declaring
the claim or right to be a cloud on the title and releasing the land there-
from and extinguishing the same; but if the defendant or defendants shall
thereupon prove that there are commercial minerals, coals, oils, ores, or
sub-surface substances in or on the land, the court shall require said
minerals, coals, oils, ores, or sub-surface substances to be charged with
taxes according to law.

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