CHAPTER 377

An Act to amend and reenact § 55-154, as amended, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to presumption of absence of minerals, coals, oils and
other substances under certain lands. 5 468

[ ]

Approved March 31, 1964

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 55-154, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 55-154. In any case when a claim to minerals, coals, oils, ores or sub-
surface substances, in, on or under lands in the Commonwealth, except
lands lying west of the Blue Ridge mountains other than in counties having
a population of more than thirty thousand but less than thirty-one
thousand, of more than fifteen thousand seven hundred but less than six-
teen thousand, of more than sixty thousand but less than seventy thousand,
of more than five thousand but less than five thousand three hundred fifty,
and of more than twenty-six thousand six hundred and seventy but less
than twenty-six thousand eight hundred or in the case of manganese ores
only in counties having a population of more than twenty-one thousand
three hundred and less than twenty-one thousand nine hundred or in any
county having a population of more than forty-three thousand but less than
fifty thousand, or the right to enter such land for the purpose of exploring,
mining, boring and sinking shafts for such minerals, coals, oils, ores or
subsurface substances is derived or reserved by any writing made thirty-
‘ve years or more prior to the institution of the suit hereinafter mentioned,
an

(a) Such right to explore or mine has not for a like period been
exercised and for a like period the person having such claim or right has
never been charged with taxes thereon but all the taxes on the land have
been charged to and paid by the person holding the land subject thereto,
and for a like period no deed of bargain and sale of such claim or reserva-
tion in such mineral rights in the lands embraced in such claim has been
recorded in the clerk’s office of the county wherein the lands are located; or

_ (b) When the right to explore and mine has been exercised and the
minerals, coals, oils, ores and subsurface substances in or on the land have
been exhausted and the right of mining or boring has been abandoned for
a like period;

It shall be prima facie presumed that no minerals, coals, oils, ores or
subsurface substances exist in, on or under such land.