La. Admin. Code tit. 43 § V-502

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section V-502 - Bidding [Formerly LAC 43:I.902]

A. Bids for state mineral leases shall only be accepted from those parties who are registered prospective leaseholders (having a registration form containing current information regarding the bidder and a current certificate of good standing from the Secretary of State's office indicating prospective bidder is authorized to do business in the state of Louisiana) with the Office of Mineral Resources. Prospective leaseholders must maintain current their registration by notifying the Office of Mineral Resources of any change of information provided on the registration form and prior to January 31 of each year, if applicable, furnishing the Office of Mineral Resources with a copy of a certificate from the Secretary of State's Office indicating the party is in good standing and remains authorized to do business in the state of Louisiana.

B. Bids for state mineral leases shall be accepted at the place named in the advertisement no later than 12 noon on the Tuesday immediately preceding the Wednesday State Mineral Board meeting (unless specially noticed due to holidays).

C. Bids must be in a sealed envelope with the tract number for which the bid is being submitted legibly typed or written on the outside of the envelope. The bid packet shall contain the official state of Louisiana bid form as secured from the website form file, completely and accurately filled out and signed by an authorized agent of the bidder, a cashier's or certified check, or money order made out to the Office of Mineral Resources for the total amount of the cash bonus being bid (which must match exactly the cash bonus written in on the bid form submitted), a check made out to the Office of Mineral Resources for the sum equaling 10 percent of the total cash bonus bid, a check made out to the Office of Mineral Resources for a sum equaling $20 multiplied times the total number of acres being bid on (if bid is on entire tract, then multiply $20 times total tract acreage), a "hard" paper copy of the plat and legal description of a portion bid and a diskette or CD-ROM containing a .dxf file and a word.doc file describing the portion bid (which must match each other and the "hard" copies) and an electronic .pdf file of the plat. Failure to sign the bid form, or a discrepancy between the amount of the cash bonus set forth on the check presented and, if less than, the amount written in on the accompanying bid form, shall invalidate the bid, rendering it unacceptable to the State Mineral Board. Bids once submitted shall not be returned prior to the State Mineral Board meeting for which they were submitted, and then only by permission of the State Mineral Board or if the bid is rejected.

D. Bids shall be opened on the date, and at the time and place specified in the advertisement. If a nominated tract is withdrawn from a particular mineral lease sale by the State Mineral Board for any reason, any bids received on the withdrawn tract shall be returned unopened at the end of the State Mineral Board meeting from which the tract was withdrawn.

E. All bids opened shall be evaluated by the staff of the State Mineral Board and recommendations made as to whether each bid should, or should not, be accepted. The State Mineral Board may then award leases on those bids it deems acceptable-usually at the meeting when the corresponding bids are opened. All bids not accepted shall be returned to the unsuccessful bidder at the end of the meeting at which the bids were opened.

F. Awarded leases are prepared by the staff of the Office of Mineral Resources and sent to the new lessee for signature and recordation in the parish records of the parish(s) in which the lease acreage is located. A fully signed and executed copy of the lease, with recording information, shall then be returned to the Office of Mineral Resources within 20 days of receipt therefrom (failure to so return may result in forfeiture of lease) and shall be filed in the lease records of that office.

G. More particular information with regards to the bidding procedure may be obtained from the Leasing Manual located on the DNR website as set forth hereinabove.

La. Admin. Code tit. 43, § V-502

Promulgated by the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Mineral Resources, LR 34:255 (February 2008), repromulgated LR 411725 (9/1/2015).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 36:354(A).