An oil and gas exploration company told the Lincoln CountySchool Board on Monday they would be conducting tests on the Eastand West Mallalieu Fields, which are located on 16th sectionland.

Nat Prestage, with Crownpointe Resources, a partner of DenburyResources, Inc., said the company intends to begin 3-D seismictesting soon. The company expects operations to begin around April1 and end around July 1.

District property on the fields amounts to approximately 640acres, Prestage said. He presented the board with a check for$3,200, which represented $5 per acre. The money was intended as agood-faith offering against any damage the company may cause.

“It’s just something we do,” he said. “If there’s any damage tothis property, we pay more. I don’t foresee that happening, but Iwanted to tell you about it up front.”

Regardless of whether the property is damaged, Prestage said,the money presented Monday belongs to the district.

Prestage also received approval to work on two smaller tractsaffecting individual county schools. The Mallalieu Fields alsoextend into a few acres of Enterprise Attendance Center land andnearly 35 acres of land under the control of Bogue ChittoAttendance Center.

Earlier Monday, Prestage met with the Lincoln County Board ofSupervisors to ensure their permits to work in the areas are wound.The company also will have to meet with individual land owners withproperty in the survey area.

Crownpointe received permission to use county roads to movetheir equipment into the area, provided their heavy equipmentfollowed routes determined the board.

In other matters, the board set dates to conduct its annual tourof schools. The board will tour Bogue Chitto at 10 a.m. andEnterprise at 1 p.m. March 7 and will tour Loyd Star at 10 a.m. andWest Lincoln at 1 p.m. April 4.

Although board members regularly visit the schools in theirdistricts, the walk-throughs give them the opportunity to inspectthe campuses in a more formal , said Superintendent TerryBrister.