49-603. Same; definitions.
49-603
49-603. Same; definitions.As used in this act:
(a) "Director" means the executive director of the commission or a designee.
(b) "Affected land" means the area of land from which overburden has beenremoved or upon which overburden has been deposited, or both, but shall notinclude crushing areas, stockpile areas or roads.
(c) "Commission" means the state conservation commission.
(d) "Mine" means any underground or surface mine developed and operated forthe purpose of extractingrocks, minerals and industrial materials, other than coal, oil and gas. Minedoes not includeborrow areas created for construction purposes.
(e) "Operator" means any personwho engages in surface mining or operation of an underground mine or mines.
(f) "Overburden" means all of the earth and other materials which lie abovethe natural deposits of material being mined or to be mined.
(g) "Peak" means a projecting point of overburden removed from its naturalposition and deposited elsewhere in the process of surface mining.
(h) "Pit" means a tract of land from which overburden has been or is beingremoved for the purpose of surface mining.
(i) "Ridge" means a lengthened elevation of overburden removed from itsnatural position and deposited elsewhere in the process of surface mining.
(j) (1) "Surface mining" meansthe mining of material, except for coal, oil and gas, for sale or forprocessing or for consumption in the regular operation of a business byremoving the overburden lying above natural deposits and mining directly fromthe natural deposits exposed, or by mining directly from deposits lying exposedin their natural state, or the surface effects of underground mining. Surfacemining shall include dredge operations lyingoutside the high banks of streams and rivers.
(2) Removal of overburden and mining of limited amounts of any materialsshall not be considered surface mining when done only for the purpose and tothe extent necessary to determine the location, quantity or quality of thenatural deposit, if the materials removed during exploratory excavation ormining are not sold, processed for sale or consumed in the regular operation ofa business.
(k) "Topsoil" means the natural medium located at the land surface withfavorable characteristics for growth of vegetation, which is normally the A orB, or both, soil horizon layers of the four soil horizons.
(l) "Active site" means a site where surface mining is being conducted.
(m) "Inactive site" means a site where surface mining is not being conductedbut where overburden has been disturbed in the past for the purpose ofconducting surface mining and an operator anticipates conducting furthersurface mining operations in the future.
(n) "Materials" means natural deposits of gypsum, clay, stone, sandstone,sand, shale, silt, gravel, volcanic ash or any other minerals of commercialvalue found on or in the earth with the exception of coal, oil and gas andthose located within cut and fill portions of road rights-of-way.
(o) "Reclamation" means the reconditioning of the area of land affected bysurface miningto a usable condition for agricultural,recreational or other use.
(p) "Stockpile" means the finished products of the mining of gypsum, clay,shale, stone, sandstone, sand, silt, gravel, volcanic ash or other minerals andremoval from its natural position and deposited elsewhere for future use in thenormal operation as a business.
(q) "Underground mining" means the extraction of rocks, minerals andindustrial materials, other than coal, oil and gas, from the earth bydeveloping entries or shafts from the surface to the seam or deposit beforerecovering the product by underground extraction methods.
(r) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation,government or other entity.
History: L. 1994, ch. 197, § 3; July 1.