Utah Code § 40-8-4

Current through the 2024 Fourth Special Session

Section 40-8-4 - Definitions

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Adjudicative proceeding" means:

(a) a division or board action or proceeding determining the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities, or other legal interests of one or more identifiable persons, including actions to grant, deny, revoke, suspend, modify, annul, withdraw, or amend an authority, right, permit, or license; or

(b) judicial review of a division or board action or proceeding specified in Subsection (1)(a).

(2) "Amendment" means a request for an insignificant change to a notice of intention, as defined by rule made in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.

(3) "Applicant" means a person who has filed a notice of intent to commence mining operations, or who has applied to the board for a review of a notice or order.

(4)

(a) "Approved notice of intention" means a formally filed notice of intention to commence mining operations, including revisions or amendments to the notice of intention that is approved under Section 40-8-13.

(b) An approved notice of intention is not required for small mining operations.

(5)

(a) "Basalt" means fine-grained mafic igneous rock formed in the tertiary or quaternary periods.

(b) A Utah Geological Survey published map or a United States Geological Survey published map that classifies material as "basalt" is prima facie evidence that the material meets the requirements of Subsection (5)(a). An unmapped area may be classified by a Utah Geological Survey geologist or a professional geologist licensed in the state.

(6) "Board" means the Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining.

(7) "Boulder" means a naturally occurring consolidated rock fragment greater than 75 millimeters in size that is associated with unconsolidated material and detached from bedrock.

(8) "Conference" means an informal adjudicative proceeding conducted by the division.

(9)

(a) "Deposit" or "mineral deposit" means an accumulation of mineral matter in the form of consolidated rock, unconsolidated material, solutions, or occurring on the surface, beneath the surface, or in the waters of the land from which any product useful to man may be produced, extracted, or obtained or which is extracted by underground mining methods for underground storage.

(b) "Deposit" or "mineral deposit" excludes sand, gravel, rock aggregate, basalt, boulders, water, geothermal steam, and oil and gas as defined in Chapter 6, Board and Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, but includes oil shale and bituminous sands extracted by mining operations.

(10) "Development" means the work performed in relation to a deposit following the deposit's discovery but before and in contemplation of production mining operations, aimed at preparing the site for mining operations, defining further the ore deposit by drilling or other means, conducting pilot plant operations, constructing roads or ancillary facilities, and other related activities.

(11) "Division" means the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining.

(12) "Emergency order" means an order issued by the board in accordance with Section 63G-4-502.

(13)

(a) "Exploration" means surface-disturbing activities conducted for the purpose of:

(i) discovering a deposit or mineral deposit;

(ii) delineating the boundaries of a deposit or mineral deposit; and

(iii) identifying regions or specific areas in which deposits or mineral deposits are most likely to exist.

(b) "Exploration" includes:

(i) sinking shafts;

(ii) tunneling;

(iii) drilling holes and digging pits or cuts;

(iv) building of roads, and other access ways; and

(v) constructing and operating other facilities related to the activities described in this Subsection (13)(b).

(14) "Gravel" means a naturally occurring unconsolidated to moderately consolidated accumulation of rock and mineral particles, the dominant size range being between 4 millimeters and 75 millimeters, that has been deposited by sedimentary processes.

(15) "Hearing" means a formal adjudicative proceeding conducted by the board under the board's procedural rules.

(16)

(a) "Imminent danger to the health and safety of the public" means the existence of a condition or practice, or a violation of a permit requirement or other requirement of this chapter in a mining operation, which condition, practice, or violation could reasonably be expected to cause substantial physical harm to persons outside the permit area before the condition, practice, or violation can be abated.

(b) A reasonable expectation of death or serious injury before abatement exists if a rational person, subjected to the same conditions or practices giving rise to the peril, would not expose the rational person to the danger during the time necessary for abatement.

(17)

(a) "Land affected" means the surface and subsurface of an area within the state where mining operations are being or will be conducted, including:

(i) on-site private ways, roads, and railroads;

(ii) land excavations;

(iii) exploration sites;

(iv) drill sites or workings;

(v) refuse banks or spoil piles;

(vi) evaporation or settling ponds;

(vii) stockpiles;

(viii) leaching dumps;

(ix) placer areas;

(x) tailings ponds or dumps; and

(xi) work, parking, storage, or waste discharge areas, structures, and facilities.

(b) Lands are excluded from Subsection (17)(a) that would:

(i) be includable as land affected, but which have been reclaimed in accordance with an approved plan, as may be approved by the board; and

(ii) include lands in which mining operations have ceased before July 1, 1977.

(18) "Large mining operation" means a mining operation that is not a small mining operation and, for purposes of filing a notice of intention, does not include an exploration mining operation.

(19)

(a) "Mining operation" means activities conducted on the surface of the land for the exploration for, development of, or extraction of a mineral deposit, including surface mining and the surface effects of underground and in situ mining, on-site transportation, concentrating, milling, evaporation, and other primary processing.

(b) "Mining operation" does not include:

(i) the extraction of sand, gravel, rock aggregate, and boulders;

(ii) the extraction of basalt for an area not to exceed 50 acres under active surface mining;

(iii) the extraction of oil and gas as defined in Chapter 6, Board and Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining;

(iv) the extraction of geothermal steam;

(v) smelting or refining operations;

(vi) off-site operations and transportation;

(vii) reconnaissance activities; or

(viii) activities that will not cause significant surface resource disturbance or involve the use of mechanized earth-moving equipment, such as bulldozers or backhoes.

(20) "Notice" means:

(a) notice of intention, as defined in this chapter; or

(b) written information given to an operator by the division describing compliance conditions at a mining operation.

(21) "Notice of intention" means a notice to commence mining operations, including revisions to the notice.

(22) "Off-site" means the land areas that are outside of or beyond the on-site land.

(23)

(a) "On-site" means the surface lands on or under which surface or underground mining operations are conducted.

(b) A series of related properties under the control of a single operator, but separated by small parcels of land controlled by others, are considered to be a single site unless an exception is made by the division.

(24) "Operator" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other organization or representative, either public or private, owning, controlling, or managing a mining operation or proposed mining operation.

(25) "Order" means written information provided by the division or board to an operator or other parties, describing the compliance status of a permit or mining operation.

(26) "Owner" means a natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, agent, or other organization or representative, either public or private, owning, controlling, or managing a mineral deposit or the surface of lands employed in mining operations.

(27) "Permit" means a permit order.

(28) "Permit area" means the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by the operator with the application or notice to conduct mining operations.

(29) "Permit order" means an action by the division that:

(a)

(i) approves a notice of intention to commence a large mining operation or revise or amend a large mining operation; or

(ii) declares a notice of intention for a large mining operation deficient;

(b)

(i) accepts as complete a notice of intention to commence a small mining operation or revise or amend a small mining operation; and

(ii) approves the amount and form of surety for a notice of intention; or

(c) approves a notice of intention to conduct an exploration operation or revise or amend an exploration operation.

(30) "Permittee" means a person holding, or who is required by Utah law to hold, a valid permit or notice to conduct mining operations.

(31) "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, society, joint stock company, firm, company, corporation, or other governmental or business organization.

(32) "Reclamation" means actions performed during or after mining operations to shape, stabilize, revegetate, or treat the land affected in order to achieve a safe, stable ecological condition and use that is consistent with local environmental conditions.

(33) "Review proceeding" means a proceeding under this chapter to address a challenge to a permit order.

(34) "Revision" means a request for a change to a notice of intention that is not an amendment to a notice of intention.

(35)

(a) "Rock aggregate" means those consolidated rock materials associated with a sand deposit, a gravel deposit, or a sand and gravel deposit that were created by alluvial sedimentary processes.

(b) "Rock aggregate" excludes any solid rock in the form of bedrock, other than basalt, that is exposed at the surface of the earth or overlain by unconsolidated material.

(36) "Sand" means a naturally occurring unconsolidated to moderately consolidated accumulation of rock and mineral particles, the dominant size range being between .004 millimeters to 4 millimeters, that has been deposited by sedimentary processes.

(37) "Small mining operations" means mining operations that disturb or will disturb 20 or less surface acres at any given time in an unincorporated area of a county or 10 or less surface acres at any given time in an incorporated area of a county.

(38) "Substantive public comment" means a public comment that:

(a) is specific to a proposed action;

(b) has a direct relationship to the proposed action;

(c) includes supporting reasons for the division to consider; and

(d) addresses issues that are within the scope of the division's jurisdiction.

(39) "Unwarranted failure to comply" means the failure of a permittee to prevent the occurrence of a violation of the permit or a requirement of this chapter due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care, or the failure to abate a violation of the permit or this chapter due to indifference, lack of diligence, or lack of reasonable care.

Utah Code § 40-8-4

Amended by Chapter 70, 2024 General Session ,§ 2, eff. 5/1/2024.

Amended by Chapter 72, 2022 General Session ,§ 2, eff. 5/4/2022.

Amended by Chapter 39, 2021 General Session ,§ 2, eff. 5/5/2021.

Amended by Chapter 369, 2020 General Session ,§ 1, eff. 5/12/2020.

Amended by Chapter 110, 2020 General Session ,§ 2, eff. 5/12/2020.

Amended by Chapter 231, 2011 General Session.