Lease bond means the bond or equivalent security given the Department to assure payment of all obligations under a lease, exploration license, or license to mine, and to assure that all aspects of the mining operation other than reclamation operations under a permit on a lease are conducted in conformity with the approved mining or exploration plan. Mining plan means a resource recovery and protection plan as described in Sec. Mining Supervisor means the authorized officer. The coal may either be Federal coal or be both Federal and non-Federal coal. In computing the three year period the authorized officer shall include periods during which title was owned by a relative of such person by blood or marriage if, during such periods, the relative would have met the requirements of this section.
Reserves has the meaning set forth in the term recoverable coal reserves in Sec.
Sole party in interest means a party who is and will be vested with all legal and equitable rights under a lease, bid, or an application for a lease. No one is a sole party in interest with respect to a lease or bid in which any other party has any interest. Split estate means land in which the ownership of the surface is held by persons, including governmental bodies, other than the Federal government and the ownership of underlying coal is, in whole or in part, reserved to the Federal government. Costs of acquiring the coal in place or of the right to mine it without an existing mine are not sufficient to constitute substantial legal and financial commitments. Surface management agency means the Federal agency with jurisdiction over the surface of federally owned lands containing coal deposits, and, in the case of private surface over Federal coal, the Bureau of Land Management, except in areas designated as National Grasslands, where it means the Forest Service.