Title 43
SECTION 3480.0-5
3480.0-5 Definitions.
§ 3480.0-5 Definitions.(a) As used in the rules of this part, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) Advance royalty means a payment under a Federal lease in advance of actual production when authorized by the authorized officer to be made in lieu of continued operation. Payments made under the minimum production clause, in lieu of actual production from a Federal lease issued prior to August 4, 1976, and not readjusted after August 4, 1976, are not advance royalty under the provisions at 43 CFR 3483.4
(2) Assistant Director for Solid Leasable Minerals means Assistant Director for Solid Leasable Minerals, Bureau of Land Management;
(3) Assistant Secretary for Land and Water Resources means the Assistant Secretary for Land and Water Resources, Department of the Interior;
(4) Chief, Division of Solid Mineral Operations means the Chief, Division of Solid Minerals Operations, Bureau of Land Management;
(5) Coal reserve base shall be determined using existing published or unpublished information, or any combination thereof, and means the estimated tons of Federal coal in place contained in beds of:
(i) Metallurgical or metallurgical-blend coal 12 inches or more thick; anthracite, semianthracite, bituminous, and subbituminous coal 28 inches or more thick; and lignite 60 inches or more thick to a depth of 500 feet below the lowest surface elevation on the Federal lease.
(ii) Metallurgical and metallurgical-blend coal 24 inches or more thick; anthracite, semianthracite, bituminous and subbituminous coal 48 inches or more thick; and lignite 84 inches or more thick occurring from 500 to 3,000 feet below the lowest surface elevation on the Federal lease.
(iii) Any thinner bed of metallurgical, anthracite, semianthracite, bituminous, and subbituminous coal and lignite at any horizon above 3,000 feet below the lowest suface elevation on the Federal lease, which is currently being mined or for which there is evidence that such coal bed could be mined commercially at this time.
(iv) Any coal at a depth greater than 3,000 feet where mining actually is to occur.
(6) Commercial quantities means 1 percent of the recoverable coal reserves or LMU recoverable coal reserves.
(7) Contiguous means having at least one point in common, including cornering tracts. Intervening physical separations such as burn or outcrop lines and intervening legal separations such as rights-of-way do not destroy contiguity as long as legal subdivisions have at least one point in common.
(8) Continued operation means the production of not less than commercial quantities of recoverable coal reserves in each of the first 2 continued operation years following the achievement of diligent development and an average amount of not less than commercial quantities of recoverable coal reserves per continued operation year thereafter, computed on a 3-year basis consisting of the continued operation year in question and the 2 preceding continued operation years.
(9) Continued operation year means the 12-month period beginning with the commencement of the first royalty reporting period following the date that diligent development is achieved and each 12-month period thereafter, except as suspended in accordance with 43 FR 3483.3(b).
(10) Deputy Director for Energy and Mineral Resources means the Deputy Director for Energy and Mineral Resources, Bureau of Land Management;
(11) Development means activities conducted by an operator/lessee, after approval of a permit application package, to prepare a mine for commercial production.
(12) Diligent development means the production of recoverable coal reserves in commercial quantities prior to the end of the diligent development period.
(13) Diligent development period means a 10-year period which:
(i) For Federal leases shall begin on either -
(A) The effective date of the Federal lease for all Federal leases issued after August 4, 1976; or
(B) The effective date of the first lease readjustment after August 4, 1976, for Federal leases issued prior to August 4, 1976; and
(ii) For LMU's shall begin on either -
(A) The effective approval date of the LMU, if the LMU contains a Federal lease issued prior to August 4, 1976, but not readjusted after August 4, 1976, prior to LMU approval; or
(B) The effective date of the most recent Federal lease issuance or readjustment prior to LMU approval, for any LMU that does not contain a lease issued prior to August 4, 1976, that has not been readjusted after August 4, 1976, prior to LMU approval.
The diligent development period shall terminate at the end of the royalty reporting period in which the production of recoverable coal reserves in commercial quantities was achieved, or at the end of 10 years, whichever occurs first.(14) Exploration means drilling, excavating, and geological, geophysical or geochemical surveying operations designed to obtain detailed data on the physical and chemical characteristics of Federal coal and its environment including the strata below the Federal coal, overburden, and strata above the Federal coal, and the hydrologic conditions associated with the Federal coal.
(15) Exploration plan means a detailed plan to conduct exploration; it shows the location and type of exploration to be conducted, environmental protection procedures, present and proposed roads, and reclamation and abandonment procedures to be followed upon completion of operations.
(16) General mining order means any numbered formal order, issued by the State Director, which is published in the Federal Register after opportunity for public comment. General Mining Orders apply to coal exploration, mining, and related operations.
(17) Gross value, for the purpose of royalty calculations, means the unit sale or contract price times the number of units sold, subject to the provisions at § 3485.2(g) of this title under which gross value is determined.
(18) License means a license to mine coal pursuant to the provisions of 43 CFR part 3440, or an exploration license issued pursuant to the provisions of 43 CFR part 3410.
(19) Logical mining unit (LMU) means an area of land in which the recoverable coal reserves can be developed in an efficient, economical, and orderly manner as a unit with due regard to conservation of recoverable coal reserves and other resources. An LMU may consist of one or more Federal leases and may include intervening or adjacent lands in which the United States does not own the coal. All lands in an LMU shall be under the effective control of a single operator/lessee, be able to be developed and operated as a single operation, and be contiguous.
(20) Logical mining unit (LMU) recoverable coal reserves means the sum of estimated Federal and non-Federal recoverable coal reserves in the LMU.
(21) Maximum economic recovery (MER) means that, based on standard industry operating practices, all profitable portions of a leased Federal coal deposit must be mined. At the times of MER determinations, consideration will be given to: existing proven technology; commercially available and economically feasible equipment; coal quality, quantity, and marketability; safety, exploration, operating, processing, and transportation costs; and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The requirement of MER does not restrict the authority of the authorized officer to ensure the conservation of the recoverable coal reserves and other resources and to prevent the wasting of coal.
(22) Methods of operation means the methods and manner, described in an exploration or resource recovery and protection plan, by which exploration, development, or mining activities are to be performed by the operator/lessee.
(23) Minable reserve base means that portion of the coal reserve base which is commercially minable and includes all coal that will be left, such as in pillars, fenders, or property barriers. Other areas where mining is not permissible (including, but not limited to, areas classified as unsuitable for coal mining operations) shall be excluded from the minable reserve base.
(24) Mine means an underground or surface excavation or series of excavations and the surface or underground support facilities that contribute directly or indirectly to mining, production, preparation, and handling of coal.
(25) MLA means the Act of February 25, 1920, as amended, commonly referred to as the Mineral Leasing Act and codified at 30 U.S.C. 181, et seq., and the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands, as amended, 30 U.S.C. 351-359.
(26) Notice of availability means formal notification by the authorized officer to: appropriate Federal, State, and local government agencies; to the surface and mineral owners; and to the public in accordance with 43 CFR 3481.2.
(27) Operator/lessee means lessee, licensee, and/or one conducting operations on a Federal lease or license under a written contract or written agreement with the lessee or licensee.
(28) Permanent abandonment of exploration operations means the completion of all activities conducted under an approved exploration plan, including plugging of all drill holes, submission of required records, and reclamation of all disturbed surfaces.
(29) Permanent abandonment of mining operations means the completion of all development, production, and resource recovery and protection requirements conducted under an approved resource recovery and protection plan, including satisfaction of all Federal rental and royalty requirements.
(30) Preparation means any physical or chemical treatment to prepare coal for market. Treatment may include crushing, sizing, drying, mixing, or other processing, and removal of noncoal waste such as bone or other impurities to enhance the quality and therefore the value of the coal.
(31) Production means mining of recoverable coal reserves and/or commercial byproducts from a mine using surface, underground, auger, or in situ methods.
(32) Recoverable coal reserves means the minable reserve base excluding all coal that will be left, such as in pillars, fenders, and property barriers.
(33) Resource recovery and protection includes practices to: recover efficiently the recoverable coal reserves subject to these rules; avoid wasting or loss of coal or other resources; prevent damage to or degradation of coal-bearing or mineral-bearing formations; ensure MER of the Federal coal; and ensure that other resources are protected during exploration, development, and mining, and upon abandonment.
(34) Resource recovery and protection plan means a plan showing that the proposed operation meets the requirements of MLA for development, production, resource recovery and protection, diligent development, continued operation, MER, and the rules of this part for the life-of-the-mine.
(35) State Director means an employee of the Bureau of Land Management who has been designated as the chief administrative officer of one of the Bureau's 12 administrative areas designated as “States”.
(36) Subsidence means a lowering of surface elevations over an underground mine caused by loss of support and subsequent settling or caving of strata lying above the mine.
(b) The following shall have the meanings as defined at 30 CFR Chapter VII:
Alluvial valley floors Federal Lands Program Ground water Indian lands Overburden Permit Permit application Permit application package Permit area Regulatory authority Roads Spoil [47 FR 33179, July 30, 1982; 47 FR 53366, Nov. 26, 1982. Redesignated and amended at 48 FR 41589, 41590, Sept. 16, 1983]