Natural Resource Partners (NRP) is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns roughly 13 million acres of U.S. mineral rights and leases them to operators in exchange for royalties. NRP does not mine or produce anything itself — it is purely a passive landowner. NRP's core business is coal royalties, which make up the vast majority of its Mineral Rights segment revenues. NRP leases coal properties to operators under long-term leases and receives royalties based on the greater of a percentage of the sales price or a fixed per-ton amount, with minimum payment obligations providing a cash floor even when operators cut production. NRP's coal portfolio splits between metallurgical (met) coal, used in steel production and located primarily in Central Appalachia, and thermal coal, used in electricity generation and located in the Illinois Basin and Northern Powder River Basin. Met coal generates roughly 65% of coal royalty revenues and is viewed by management as the long-term backbone of the business, while NRP openly acknowledges thermal coal is in secular decline. NRP also holds a 49% non-controlling equity interest in Sisecam Wyoming, a trona ore and soda ash operation in Wyoming managed by its Turkish partner Sisecam, with NRP's exposure limited to cash distributions from the joint venture. NRP's business model is capital-light by design — operators bear all labor, reclamation, permitting, and capex costs. NRP's strategic focus has been aggressive debt reduction, paying off over $1.3B in obligations since 2015, and the company now prioritizes returning cash to unitholders through distributions and buybacks.