As used in this article, unless the context
otherwise requires:
(1) Affected land means the surface of an area within the state where a
mining operation is being or will be conducted, which surface is disturbed as a
result of an operation. Affected lands include, but shall not be limited to, private
ways, roads (except those roads excluded by this subsection (1)); land excavations;
exploration sites; drill sites or workings; refuse banks or spoil piles; evaporation or
settling ponds; work, parking, storage, or waste discharge areas; and areas in which
structures, facilities, equipment, machines, tools, or other materials or property that
result from or are used in such operations are situated. Affected land does not
include land that has been reclaimed pursuant to an approved plan or otherwise, as
may be approved by the board, or off-site roads that were constructed for purposes
unrelated to the proposed operation, were in existence before a permit application
was filed with the office, and will not be substantially upgraded to support the
operation or off-site groundwater monitoring wells.
(1.5) Aggrieved means suffering actual loss or injury, or being exposed to
potential loss or injury, to legitimate interests. Such interests include, but are not
limited to, business, economic, aesthetic, governmental, recreational, or
conservational interests.
(2) Board means the mined land reclamation board established by section
34-32-105.
(3) Construction material means rock, clay, silt, sand, gravel, limestone,
dimension stone, marble, or shale extracted for use in the production of nonmetallic
construction products.
(4) Department means the department of natural resources.
(5) Development means work performed with respect to a construction
materials deposit following the exploration required to prove construction
materials are in existence in commercial quantities but prior to production
activities. Development work includes, but is not limited to, work that must be
performed for the purpose of preparing the site for mining, defining further the
deposit by drilling or other means, conducting pilot plant operations, constructing
roads or ancillary facilities, and other related activities.
(6) Director means the director of the division of reclamation, mining, and
safety.
(7) Division means the division of reclamation, mining, and safety created in
section 34-20-103.
(8) Executive director means the executive director of the department of
natural resources.
(9) Exploration means the act of searching for or investigating a
construction materials deposit. Exploration includes, but is not limited to, sinking
shafts, tunneling, drilling core and bore holes, and digging pits, cuts, or other works
for the purpose of extracting samples prior to the commencement of development
or extraction, and the building of roads, access ways, and other facilities related to
such work. Exploration does not include:
(a) An activity that causes very little or no surface disturbance, such as
airborne surveys and photographs, the use of instruments or devices that are hand-carried or otherwise transported over the surface to make magnetic, radioactive, or
other tests and measurements, boundary or claim surveying, location work, or other
work that causes no greater land disturbance than is caused by ordinary lawful use
of the land by persons not involved in exploration activities; or
(b) Any single activity that results in the disturbance of a single block of land
totaling one thousand six hundred square feet or less of the land's surface, not to
exceed two such disturbances per acre; except that the cumulative total of such
disturbances may not exceed five acres statewide in any exploration operation
extending over twenty-four consecutive months.
(10) Financial warranty means a warranty of the type described in section
34-32.5-117 (3).
(11) Life of the mine means, with respect to a permit granted pursuant to
section 34-32.5-110, 34-32.5-111, or 34-32.5-112, a period lasting as long as:
(a) An operator continues to engage in the extraction of construction
materials and complies with this article. The life of the mine includes that period of
time after the cessation of production that is necessary to complete the
reclamation of disturbed lands as required by the board and this article and
continues until the board releases the operator, in writing, from further reclamation
obligations regarding the affected land, declares the operation terminated, and
releases all applicable performance and financial warranties.
(b) Construction material reserves are shown by the operator to remain in the
operation and the operator plans to, or does, temporarily cease production for one
hundred eighty days or more if such operator files a notice with the board stating
the reasons for nonproduction, a plan for the resumption of production, and the
measures taken to comply with reclamation and other necessary activities as
established by the board to maintain the operation in a nonproducing state. The
requirement of a notice of temporary cessation shall not apply to operators who
resume operating within one year and have included in their permit applications a
statement that the affected lands are to be used for less than one hundred eighty
days per year.
(c) Production is resumed within five years after the date production ended,
or the operator files a report with the board requesting an extension of the period
of temporary cessation of production stating the reasons for the continuation of
nonproduction and those factors necessary to, and the plans for, resumption of
production. In no case shall a temporary cessation of production be continued for
more than ten years without terminating the operation and fully complying with the
reclamation requirements of this article.
(d) The board does not take action to declare termination of the life of the
mine, which action shall require a sixty-day notice to the operator alleging a
violation of paragraph (a), (b), or (c) of this subsection (11), or that inadequate
reasons are provided in an operator's report under such paragraphs. In such cases,
the board shall provide a reasonable opportunity for the operator to meet with the
board to present his or her full case and shall provide reasonable time for such
operator to comply with this article.
(e) The operator complies with section 34-32.5-109 (2).
(12) Mining means the extraction of construction materials.
(13) Mining operation means the development or extraction of a
construction material from its natural occurrences on affected land. The term
includes, but is not limited to, open mining and surface operation. The term also
includes transportation and processing operations on affected land. The term does
not include concentrating, milling, evaporation, cleaning, preparation,
transportation, and other off-site operations not conducted on affected land.
(14) Office means the office of mined land reclamation, created in section
34-32-105.
(15) Open mining means the mining of materials by removing the
overburden lying above such deposits and mining directly from the deposits
thereby exposed. Open mining also means mining directly from such deposits
where there is no overburden. The term includes but is not limited to such practices
as open cut mining, open pit mining, strip mining, quarrying, and dredging.
(16) Operator means a person, firm, general or limited partnership,
association, or corporation or any department, division, or agency of federal, state,
county, or municipal government engaged in or controlling a mining operation.
(17) Overburden means earth and other materials that lie above natural
minerals and includes earth and other materials that are disturbed from their
natural state in the process of extracting construction materials.
(18) Performance warranty means a warranty of the type described in
section 34-32.5-117 (2).
(19) Reclamation means the employment, during and after an operation, of
procedures reasonably designed to minimize as much as practicable the disruption
from an operation and provide for the establishment of plant cover, stabilization of
soil, protection of water resources, or other measures appropriate to the
subsequent beneficial use of the affected lands. Reclamation shall be conducted in
accordance with the performance standards of this article.
(20) Refuse means all waste material directly associated with the cleaning
and preparation of substances excavated by an operation.