New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 20 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 6 - WATER QUALITY › Part 7 - GROUND WATER PROTECTION - SUPPLEMENTAL PERMITTING REQUIREMENTS FOR COPPER MINE FACILITIES › Section 20.6.7.7 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. Terms defined in
				the Water Quality Act and 20.6.2.7 NMAC shall have the meanings as given in
				such.
B. A term defined in this
				part shall have the following meaning.
(1)
				"Acid mine drainage" means water that is discharged from an area affected by
				mining exploration, mining, or reclamation, with a pH of less than 5.5 and in
				which total acidity exceeds total alkalinity as defined by the latest edition
				of
standard methods for the examination of water and
				wastewater
.
(2)
				"Additional conditions" means conditions and requirements included in a
				discharge permit pursuant to Subsection D of Section
				74-6-5
				NMSA 1978 that are based on site specific circumstances and that are in
				addition to those imposed in the rules of the commission.
(3) "Applicable standards" means the
				standards set forth in 20.6.2.3103 NMAC; the background concentration approved
				by the department; or, any alternative abatement standard approved by the
				commission pursuant to Subsection F of 20.6.2.4103 NMAC.
(4) "Applicant" means the person applying for
				a new, renewed, modified, or amended discharge permit.
(5) "Area of open pit hydrologic containment"
				means, for an open pit that intercepts the water table, the area where ground
				water drains to the open pit and is removed by evaporation or pumping, and is
				interior to the department approved monitoring well network installed around
				the perimeter of an open pit pursuant to Paragraph (4) of Subsection B of
				20.6.7.28 NMAC and also limited to the area of disturbance authorized by a
				discharge permit.
(6) "As-built
				drawings" means engineering drawings which portray units as
				constructed.
(7) "Background" means
				the concentration of water contaminants naturally occurring from undisturbed
				geologic sources of water contaminants.
(8) "Below-grade tank" means a tank including
				sumps where a portion of the tank's side walls is below the surrounding ground
				surface elevation. A below-grade tank does not include an above ground tank
				that is located at or above the surrounding ground surface elevation and is
				surrounded by berms.
(9) "Closure"
				means all activities that are required pursuant to 20.6.7.33 NMAC through
				20.6.7.35 NMAC and an approved discharge permit to monitor, minimize, control,
				mitigate, prevent or abate water pollution associated with a copper mine
				facility after operations at the copper mine facility, or at an individual unit
				within the copper mine facility, have ceased.
(10) "Construction quality assurance" or
				"CQA" means a planned system of activities necessary to ensure that standards
				and procedures are adhered to and that construction and installation meet
				design criteria, plans and specifications. A CQA includes inspections,
				verifications, audits, evaluations of material and workmanship necessary to
				determine and document the quality of the constructed impoundment or structure,
				and corrective actions when necessary.
(11) "Construction quality control" or "CQC"
				means a planned system of operational techniques and activities used to
				preserve the quality of materials and ensure construction to specifications.
				Elements of a CQC include inspections, testing, data collection, data analysis
				and appropriate corrective actions.
(12) "CQA/CQC report" means a report that
				summarizes all inspection, testing, data collection, data analysis and any
				corrective actions completed as part of CQA or CQC for a project.
(13) "Copper mine facility" means all areas
				within which copper mining and its related activities that may discharge water
				contaminants occurs and where the discharge will or does take place including,
				but not limited to open pits; waste rock piles; ore stockpiles; leaching
				operations; solution extraction and electrowinning plants; ore crushing, ore
				milling, ore concentrators; tailings impoundments; smelters; pipeline systems,
				tanks or impoundments used to convey or store process water, tailings or
				impacted stormwater; and truck or equipment washing units.
(14) "Copper mine rule" means 20.6.7 NMAC, as
				amended.
(15) "Cover system" means
				any engineered or constructed system designed as a source control measure to
				minimize to the maximum extent practicable the ingress of water or oxygen into
				a waste rock pile, leach stockpile or tailing material. A cover system may be
				comprised of a monolithic layer of, or any combination of, earthen materials,
				synthetic materials, vegetation, and amendments.
(16) "Critical structure" means earthen or
				rock structures or embankments (such as an outslope of a rock stockpile), that
				are likely to cause an exceedance of applicable groundwater standards or undue
				risk to property in the event of a significant unexpected slope
				movement.
(17) "Date of postal
				notice" means the date when the United States postal service first makes notice
				to the applicant or permittee of its possession of certified mail addressed to
				the applicant or permittee.
(18)
				"Discharge" means spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, or dumping of
				a water contaminant in a location and manner where there is a reasonable
				probability that the water contaminant may reach ground water.
(19) "Discharge permit amendment" means a
				minor modification of a discharge permit that does not result in a significant
				change in the location of a discharge, an increase in daily discharge volume of
				greater than 10% of the original daily discharge volume approved in an existing
				discharge permit for an individual discharge location, a significant increase
				in the concentration of water contaminants discharged, or introduction of a new
				water contaminant discharged.
(20)
				"Discharge volume" means the volume of discharged process water, impacted
				stormwater or tailings measured at a specific point at the copper mine facility
				over a specified period of time.
(21) "Existing copper mine facility" means a
				copper mine facility operating under an approved discharge permit as of the
				effective date of the copper mine rule. Existing copper mine facility includes
				a copper mine covered under an approved discharge permit as of the effective
				date of the copper mine rule that is on standby status in accordance with
				mining and minerals division rules.
(22) "Existing impoundment" means an
				impoundment that is currently receiving or has ever received process water or
				collected impacted stormwater and that has not been closed pursuant to a
				discharge permit.
(23) "Expiration"
				means the date upon which the term of a discharge permit ends.
(24) "Factor of safety" means, for slope
				stability purposes, the ratio of the resisting forces to the driving
				forces.
(25) "Final CQA report"
				means a report prepared by the CQA officer that includes as-built drawings and
				a detailed description of the installation methods and procedures that document
				that the work was conducted as designed.
(26) "Flow meter" means a measuring device or
				structure used to measure the volume of water, process water, tailings or
				stormwater that passes a particular reference section in a unit of
				time.
(27) "Freeboard" means the
				vertical distance between the elevation at the lowest point of the top inside
				edge of the impoundment and the design high water elevation of the water level
				in the impoundment.
(28) "Highway"
				means any public road operated and maintained by the local, county, state or
				federal government.
(29) "Impacted
				stormwater" means direct precipitation and runoff that comes into contact with
				water contaminants within a copper mine facility which causes the stormwater to
				exceed one or more of the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC and includes overflow
				from a primary process solution impoundment or other collection system
				resulting from a precipitation event.
(30) "Impoundment" means any structure
				designed and used for storage or containment of mine process water, or impacted
				stormwater, or used for solids settling, excluding a tailings impoundment. A
				process water or stormwater transfer sump or a tank, below-grade tank, drum or
				pit bottom is not an impoundment.
(31) "Interbench slope" means the outslope
				surface between terrace benches or between a terrace bench and any engineered
				conveyance system (i.e., a system to divert runoff).
(32) "Large copper mine facility" means a
				copper mine facility that has disturbed or is proposing to disturb an area of
				1500 acres or greater.
(33) "Leach
				stockpile" means stockpiles of ore and all other rock piles associated with
				mining disturbances that have been leached, are currently being leached or have
				been placed in a pile for the purpose of being leached.
(34) "Liner system" means an engineered
				system required by the copper mine rule for the containment, management or
				storage of process water, leach stockpile material, waste rock, tailings or
				other materials that have the potential to generate water contaminants
				including all constructed elements of the system and may include the subgrade,
				liner bedding, leak detection systems, synthetic liners, earthen liners,
				overliners, solution collection systems, anchor trenches, and berms, or other
				system elements, as applicable.
(35) "Maximum daily discharge volume" means
				the total daily volume of process water (expressed in gallons per day) or
				tailings (expressed in tons per day) authorized for discharge by a discharge
				permit.
(36) "Medium copper mine
				facility" means a copper mine facility that has disturbed or is proposing to
				disturb an area of a minimum of 500 acres but less than 1500 acres.
(37) "Mining and minerals division" means the
				mining and minerals division of the New Mexico energy, minerals, and natural
				resources department.
(38) "Mining
				Act" means the New Mexico Mining Act, Sections
				69-36-1
				through
				69-36-20, NMSA
				1978.
(39) "New copper mine
				facility" means a copper mine facility that is not operating under an approved
				discharge permit as of the effective date of the copper mine rule.
(40) "Non-impacted stormwater" means
				stormwater run-off generated as a result of direct precipitation at a copper
				mine facility that does not exceed the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC.
(41) "Open pit" means the area within which
				ore and waste rock are exposed and removed by surface mining.
(42) "Open pit surface drainage area" means
				the area in which storm water drains into an open pit and cannot feasibly be
				diverted by gravity outside the pit perimeter, and the underlying ground water
				is hydrologically contained by pumping or evaporation of water from the open
				pit.
(43) "Operator" means the
				person or persons responsible for the overall operations of a copper mine
				facility.
(44) "Outslope" means the
				sloped perimeter of waste rock piles, leach stockpiles and tailings
				impoundments.
(45) "Owner" means
				the person or persons who own all or part of a copper mine facility.
(46) "Permittee" means a person who is issued
				or receives by transfer a discharge permit for a copper mine facility, the
				holder of an expired discharge permit, or, in the absence of a discharge
				permit, a person who makes or controls a discharge at a copper mine
				facility.
(47) "Pipeline corridor"
				means a constructed pathway that contains concentrate, tailing or process water
				pipelines, associated spill containment structures, the pipeline subgrade and
				access roads.
(48) "Pipeline
				system" means one or more pipelines and associated structures used to transport
				process water, concentrate, slurry, tailing or impacted stormwater.
(49) "PLS" means pregnant leach solution that
				is generated from leaching ore or rock stockpiles.
(50) "Process water" means any water
				containing water contaminants in excess of the standards of 20.6.2.3103 NMAC
				that is generated, managed or used within a copper mine facility including
				raffinate; PLS; leachate collected from waste rock stockpiles, leach
				stockpiles, and tailings impoundments; tailings decant water; pit dewatering
				water; intercepted ground water, laboratory or other waste discharges
				containing water contaminants; and domestic wastes mixed with process
				water.
(51) "Seepage" means
				leachate that is discharged from a waste rock stockpile or tailing impoundment
				and emerges above or at the ground surface or that is present in the vadose
				zone and may be captured prior to entering ground water.
(52) "Slag" means a partially vitreous
				by-product of the process of smelting ore.
(53) "Slope angle" means the horizontal run
				distance divided by the vertical rise, measured along the steepest gradient of
				the interbench slope's physical surface (for example, a 2.5:1 slope refers to
				2.5 horizontal and 1 vertical).
(54) "Small copper mine facility" means a
				copper mine facility that has disturbed or is proposing to disturb less than
				500 acres and that does not contain tailings impoundments or leach
				stockpiles.
(55) "Spillway" means a
				structure used for controlled releases from a stormwater or process water
				impoundment, in a manner that protects the structural integrity of the
				impoundment.
(56) "Stormwater"
				means all direct precipitation and runoff generated within a copper mine
				facility from a storm event.
(57)
				"Surface water(s) of the state" means all surface waters as defined in 20.6.4.7
				NMAC.
(58) "SX/EW" means solution
				extraction and electrowinning.
(59)
				"Tailings" means finely crushed and ground rock residue and associated fluids
				discharged from an ore milling, flotation beneficiation and concentrating
				process.
(60) "Tailings
				impoundment" means an impoundment that is the final repository of
				tailings.
(61) "Unauthorized
				discharge" means a release of process water, tailings, leachate or seepage from
				individual copper mine facility components, impacted stormwater or other
				substances containing water contaminants not approved by a discharge
				permit.
(62) "Underground mine"
				means the below-surface mine workings within which ore and waste rock are
				removed.
(63) "Unit" means a
				component of a mining operation including but not limited to processing,
				leaching, excavation, storage, stockpile or waste units.
(64) "Variance" means a commission order
				establishing requirements for a copper mine facility or a portion of a copper
				mine facility that are different than the requirements in the copper mine
				rule.
(65) "Waste rock" means all
				material excavated from a copper mine facility that is not ore or clean top
				soil.