EXHIBIT 99.1

Natural Resource Partners L.P. (ticker: NRP, exchange: New York Stock Exchange)
News Release - 10/22/2002

NATURAL RESOURCE PARTNERS ELECTS TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS

HOUSTON, Oct 22, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Natural Resource
Partners L.P. (NYSE: NRP) announced today the election of David M. Carmichael
and Robert B. Karn III to the Board of Directors of GP Natural Resource Partners
LLC, its general partner.

Mr. Carmichael is the former Vice Chairman of KN Energy and the former Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer of American Oil and Gas Corporation, CARCON
Corporation and WellTech, Inc. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of
Tom Brown, Inc. and ENSCO International, and as a trustee of the Museum of Fine
Arts Houston and the Texas Heart Institute. He has served on numerous boards of
both public companies and charitable organizations.

Mr. Karn was the partner in charge of the coal mining practice worldwide for
Arthur Andersen from 1981 until his retirement in 1998. He retired as Managing
Partner of the St. Louis office Financial and Economic Consulting Practice. Mr.
Karn is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner and has served
as President of numerous civic organizations.

"We are very pleased to have two highly qualified individuals join our Board.
Mr. Carmichael, having founded one company and served as Chairman or Vice
Chairman of four other companies, brings a wealth of business experience to our
Board. In addition, Mr. Karn's 33 years of accounting, audit and consulting
experience focused in the coal industry will be invaluable to Natural Resource
Partners," said Corbin J. Robertson, Jr., Chairman and CEO.

Natural Resource Partners L.P. also announced the appointment of Kathy E. Hager
as Vice President Investor Relations and Charles H. Kerr as Secretary. Ms. Hager
joined the partnership in 2002 and has over 12 years of experience in investor
relations. Formerly, she was the principal of IR Consulting Associates and spent
more than 20 years with Santa Fe Energy Resources, most recently as Vice
President Public Affairs. For the past 20 years, Mr. Kerr has worked for
Quintana Minerals Corporation, an affiliate of the partnership, where he is
currently Vice-President of Land/Legal.

Natural Resource Partners L.P., headquartered in Houston, TX, is a master
limited partnership principally engaged in the business of owning and managing
coal properties in the three major coal-producing regions of the United States:
Appalachia, the Illinois Basin and the Powder River Basin.

For additional information, please contact Kathy Hager at 713-751-7555 or
khager@nrplp.com.

This press release may include "forward-looking statements" as defined by the
Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements, other than statements of
historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events
or developments that the partnership expects, believes or anticipates will or
may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements are
based on certain assumptions made by the partnership based on its experience and
perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future
developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances.
Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond the control of the partnership. These risks include,
but are not limited to, decreases in demand for coal; changes in operating
conditions and costs; production cuts by our lessees; commodity prices;
unanticipated geologic problems; changes in the legislative or regulatory
environment and other factors detailed in Natural Resource Partners' Securities
and Exchange Commission filings.

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SOURCE Natural Resource Partners L.P.
CONTACT:  Kathy Hager of Natural Resource Partners L.P., +1-713-751-7555,
          or khager@nrplp.com

URL:      http://www.nrplp.com
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