NEWS RELEASE

MINERAL BOARD'S JANUARY 1997 REPORT ISSUED

The State Mineral Board conducted a Lease Sale January 8, 1997 at 10:00 a.m. in the Mineral Board Hearing Room located in the State Land and Natural Resources Building in Baton Rouge. Below are the preliminary results of the Lease Sale and 1996-97 Fiscal Year totals.

                   NOMINATED  NOMINATED  LEASES    NO. OF        AMOUNT OF
CLASSIFICATION        TRACTS   ACREAGE    AWARDED   ACRES      
                                                                CASH PAYMENTS

Lease Sale January 8, 1997


State Offshore Leases   5       5,039.270    2      1,085.700  $162,855.00

State Onshore Leases   57      32,269.205   16      1,922.544   392,173.11

State Dedicated Leases  0           0.000    0          0.000         0.00

State Agency Leases    16       6,851.960   12      3,648.070   607,435.86


TOTAL SALE
                       78     44,160.435   30    6,656.314   $1,162,463.97

1996-97 Fiscal Year


State Offshore Leases 130     174,125.659   51     40,204.269  $8,549,159.28

State Onshore Leases  426     382,406.510  205     65,699.276  17,774,280.94

State Dedicated Leases  0           0.000    0          0.000           0.00

State Agency Leases    64      26,322.006   37      9,807.310   1,946,606.01

TOTAL YEAR TO DATE
                      620     582,854.175  293    115,710.855 $28,270,046.23

Editors: For more information, please contact the DNR Public Information Office at (504) 342-8955.