Litton v. Mountaineer Land Co.

GANT, Justice.

In 1975, respondent mining company became interested in surface mining an area in Martin County known as the “Davis-port” area. Because the procedures employed by Mountaineer are typical of the procedures utilized in this type of operation, we will set them out in some detail.

Through the use of preliminary core drilling to locate the perimeters of the coal, Mountaineer defined the area to be mined and began to secure leases and purchase surface rights in order to mine this area as a unit. It acquired some 24 leases and 20 deeds, included among which leases was a lease on the…