An Act to Support Extraction of Common Minerals by Amending the Maine Metallic Mineral Mining Act
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1363
Committee: Environment and Natural Resources
Sponsors: LANDRY, BRENNER, FAULKINGHAM, JAVNER, O'CONNELL, PERRY, SOBOLESKI, THERIAULT, ZEIGLER, FARRIN
Amends: 38 MRSA §490-M, 38 MRSA §490-O, 38 MRSA §490-Q

Legislative Document
No. 1363
H.P. 877
House of Representatives, March 28, 2023
An Act to Support Extraction of Common Minerals by Amending 
the Maine Metallic Mineral Mining Act
Reference to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources suggested and ordered 
printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative LANDRY of Farmington.
Cosponsored by Senator BRENNER of Cumberland and
Representatives: FAULKINGHAM of Winter Harbor, JAVNER of Chester, O'CONNELL of 
Brewer, PERRY of Bangor, SOBOLESKI of Phillips, THERIAULT of Fort Kent, ZEIGLER 
of Montville, Senator: FARRIN of Somerset.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §490-MM, sub-§3-A is enacted to read:
3-A.  Cement.  "Cement" means any of various calcined mixtures of clay and 
limestone, which can be mixed with water and used as an ingredient in making mortar or 
concrete.
Sec. 2.  38 MRSA §490-MM, sub-§8, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 653, §23 and 
affected by §33, is amended to read:
8.  Metallic mineral.  "Metallic mineral" means any mineral, ore or excavated material 
to be excavated from the natural deposits on or in the earth for its metallic mineral content 
to be used for commercial or industrial purposes. "Metallic mineral" does not include 
thorium or uranium that has metal or a metalloid element as its economically valuable 
constituent, regardless of the chemical end product of the metal or metalloid element.
Sec. 3.  38 MRSA §490-MM, sub-§11, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 653, §23 and 
affected by §33, is amended to read:
11.  Mining.  "Mining," "mining operation" or "mining activity" means activities, 
facilities or processes necessary for the extraction or removal of metallic minerals or 
overburden or for the preparation, washing, cleaning or other treatment of metallic minerals 
and includes the bulk sampling, advanced exploration, extraction or beneficiation of 
metallic minerals as well as waste storage and other stockpiles and reclamation activities, 
but does not include exploration. "Mining," "mining operation" or "mining activity" does 
not include calcium carbonate or limestone extraction or beneficiation to produce cement.
Sec. 4.  38 MRSA §490-OO, sub-§4, ¶D, as amended by PL 2017, c. 142, §7, is 
further amended by amending the first blocked paragraph to read:
In determining compliance with this standard, the department shall require 
groundwater monitoring consistent with the standards established pursuant to section 
490‑QQ, subsection 3, except that facilities that crush and mechanically sort material 
excavated from an open-pit mining operation that has a permit in good standing under 
this article are exempt from the requirements of section 490-QQ as long as the crushing, 
sorting, storage, loading and unloading of the material takes place in a building or 
shelter that prevents rain, snow, snowmelt, ice melt and runoff from commingling with 
the material.
Sec. 5.  38 MRSA §490-OO, sub-§4, ¶O, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 142, §8, is 
amended to read:
O.  The mining operation will not use open-pit mining, except that the mining operation 
may use open-pit mining if the mining operation will only generate mine waste that 
does not have the potential to create acid rock drainage, alkali rock drainage or metal 
mine drainage, or does not violate water quality standards other than sedimentation and 
turbidity.
Sec. 6.  38 MRSA §490-QQ, sub-§4, ¶E is enacted to read:
E.  For the reclamation of the open-pit area of an open-pit mining operation:
(1) Highwalls or quarry faces must be treated in such a manner as to leave them in 
a condition that minimizes the possibility of rock falls, slope failures and collapse. 
A highwall that is loose must be controlled by the use of blasting or scaling, the 
use of safety benches, the use of flatter slopes or reduced face heights or the use of 
benching near the top of the face or rounding the edge of the face;
(2) Topsoil that is stripped or removed must be stockpiled and stabilized 
adequately for use in reclaiming disturbed lands appropriately to the approved final 
land use; 
(3) Native vegetation appropriate to the approved final land use must be established 
on all affected land, including safety benches, except for quarry walls and flooded 
areas;  
(4) Safe ingress and egress to water bodies must be provided for people and wildlife 
after reclamation;
(5) Intermittent and perennial streams diverted during mining activity must be 
returned to original channels or, if the original channel has been disturbed or 
destroyed, to a reconstructed channel having grades, pools, substrate, floodplains 
and meanders comparable to baseline conditions; and
(6) The actively mined, not reclaimed portion of the open pit may not exceed 100 
acres at any one time.
The department shall adopt rules establishing additional standards for the reclamation 
of the open-pit area of an open-pit mining operation.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the definition of "metallic mineral" in the Maine Metallic Mineral 
Mining Act.  It provides that mining does not include calcium carbonate or limestone 
extraction or beneficiation to produce cement.  It provides that permitted facilities that 
crush and mechanically sort material excavated from an open-pit mining operation are 
exempt from the performance, operation and reclamation standards in the Maine Metallic 
Mineral Mining Act under certain conditions.  It allows the use of open-pit mining if certain 
conditions are met and establishes standards for the reclamation of the open-pit area of an 
open-pit mining operation.