Schooley v. Butler Mine Co.

Citations

• 175 Pa. 261
• 34 A. 639
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 1244

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Goal lease — Royalties.</p> <p>Where a coal lease provides for a minimum production of a certain number of tons per year, and nothing is said in the lease as to the sizes of the coal constituting the minimum annual production, it may be inferred that the parties intended that the minimum number of tons to be paid for were intended to be made up of the different sizes of coal produced in the proportion that they are produced by the ordinary, usual and careful mining and preparation of coal in accordance with the terms of the agreement.</p> <p>Mining lease — Construction—Royalties.</p> <p>A mining lease of coal lands required the lessee to mine annually at least 40,000 tons after a given date, the royalties thereon to be paid in equal monthly installments; and required 20,000 tons to be mined prior to that date, on which as royalties, $5,000 were reserved, payable “ in advance.” The provisions of the lease showed that it was made with the fact in view that in ordinary coal mining different sizes of coal were produced ; and the lease provided that royalties on prepared coal should be 25 cents per ton on all sizes larger than pea coal, and that on pea coal and smaller sizes they should be graduated according to the prices received for them at the mine; and that, where coal was shipped without being prepared, a royalty of 25 cents per ton should be paid; but in no place was it provided at what rate, or in what proportion, the minimum number of tons to be mined after said date was to be paid for. Held, that the minimum number was to be made up of the different sizes of coal produced in the proportion that they were produced by the ordinary and careful mining and preparation of coal; and that the different sizes making up the whole number should be paid for at the rate fixed in the agreement for each size mentioned therein.</p>