NRP will acquire the 33,700-acre property from Dingess-Rum Properties in exchange for 2.4 million common units of NRP.

The Logan County properties are located near NRP's recently announced DD Shepard acquisition and the partnership's Pinnacle reserves. The Logan County reserves are currently being mined by Massey Energy and Magnum Coal.

The Clay and Nicholas reserves are adjacent to other NRP properties and will be developed in the future. Over 30% of these reserves are high quality metallurgical coal, NRP said.

NRP anticipated 2007 net cash flows from the properties will be nearly $US19 million, based on approximately 5.5Mt of production that will increase over time as new properties are brought onstream.

“When we went public we anticipated that NRP would be a tax-advantaged vehicle for privately owned land companies to diversify their holdings, add flexibility, provide liquidity, and assure a cash flow stream for their owners. Dingess-Rum has elected to do just that by agreeing to contribute its royalty generating assets to NRP in exchange for units in our partnership,” NRP chief Nick Carter said.

The transaction is expected to close in January and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the shareholders of Dingess-Rum.