Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 27 - Soil Conservation and Water Quality Division › Division I - Soil Conservation Division › Chapter 60 - Minerals Program › Rule 27-60.12 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
When used in this chapter, the following definitions
				  apply:
"Acceptable species"
means plant species
				  recognized as desirable permanent species and normally used in conjunction with
				  agriculture, forestry, wildlife or similar plans for reclamation.
"Administrator"
means the administrator of
				  the division of soil conservation and water quality, or a designee.
"Affected land"
means the area of land from
				  which overburden has been removed or upon which overburden has been deposited,
				  or land which has otherwise been disturbed, changed, influenced, or altered in
				  any way in the course of mining, including processing and stockpile areas but
				  not including roads.
"Angle of repose"
means the maximum angle of
				  slope (measured from horizontal) at which loose cohesion materials will come to
				  rest on a pile of similar material.
"Committee"
means the state soil
				  conservation and water quality committee.
"Critical slope angle"
means the maximum
				  slope incline which the soil and rock materials underlying the slope can
				  support, without failure, under existing climate, vegetation, and land
				  use.
"Department"
means the department of
				  agriculture and land stewardship.
"Division"
means the division of soil
				  conservation and water quality within the department of agriculture and land
				  stewardship.
"Dredge operation"
means an operation to
				  mine sand, gravel, or other nonfuel minerals for sale or for processing or
				  consumption in the regular operation of a business by removing the product
				  directly from its natural state beneath the surface of a river, lake or other
				  body of water.
"Exploration"
means the excavation of
				  limited amounts of any mineral to determine the location, quantity, or quality
				  of the mineral deposit.
"Highwall"
means the unexcavated face of
				  exposed overburden and mineral in a surface mine.
"Mine"
or
"mine site"
means
				  a site where mining is being conducted or has been conducted in the
				  past.
"Mineral"
means gypsum, clay, stone, sand,
				  gravel, or other ores or mineral solids, except coal.
"Mining"
means the excavation of gypsum,
				  clay, stone, sand, gravel, or other ores or mineral solids, except coal, for
				  sale or for processing or consumption in the regular operation of a business
				  and shall include surface mining and underground mining.
1."Surface mining" means mining by removing
				the overburden lying above the natural deposits and excavating directly from
				the natural deposits exposed, or by excavating directly from deposits lying
				exposed in their natural state, and shall include dredge operations conducted
				in or on natural or artificially created waterways within the state.
2. "Underground mining" means mining by
				digging or constructing access tunnels, adits, ramps, or shafts and excavating
				directly from the natural mineral deposits exposed.
"Mining operation"
means activities
				  conducted by an operator on a mine site relative to the excavation of minerals
				  and shall include disturbing overburden, excavation and processing of minerals,
				  stockpiling and removal of minerals from a site, and all reclamation activities
				  conducted on a mine site.
"Official notice"
means service of a written
				  notice or order to an operator via personal service or certified mail to the
				  last-known address. Service shall not be deemed incomplete because of refusal
				  to accept.
"Operator"
means any person, firm,
				  partnership, corporation, or political subdivision engaged in and controlling a
				  mining operation.
"Overburden"
means all of the earth and
				  other materials which lie above natural mineral deposits and includes all earth
				  and other materials disturbed from their natural state in the process of
				  mining.
"Pit floor"
or
"quarry
				  floor"
means the lower limit of a surface excavation to extract
				  minerals.
"Political subdivision"
means any county,
				  district, city, or other public agency within the state of Iowa.
"Reclamation"
means the process of restoring
				  disturbed lands to the premined uses of the lands or other productive
				  uses.
"Registered site"
means a site which meets
				  the requirements of Iowa Code section
				  208.13 and for which the
				  operator has received a valid registration certificate from the
				  division.
"Topsoil"
means the natural medium located
				  at the surface of the land which contains favorable characteristics for the
				  growth of vegetation.