Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 632 - DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL INDUSTRIES › Division 33 - OREGON MINED LAND RECLAMATION ACT › Section 632-033-0010 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
The definitions in ORS
				517.750 apply to these
				regulations:
(1) "Abandonment of
			 Exploration" means the cessation of exploration without reclamation or
			 notification to the department within a reasonable time.
(2) A "Period of 12 Consecutive Calendar
			 Months" as used in these rules begins on the date the exploration permit is
			 issued.
(3) "Board" means the
			 Governing Board of the State Department of Geology and Mineral
			 Industries.
(4) "Closure Order" is
			 a written notice from the department requiring the operator to cease and desist
			 from exploration activities at the site described in the written
			 notice.
(5) "Department" means the
			 Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
(6) "Disturbed or Disturbance" is any
			 alteration within the permit area boundary where surface or subsurface
			 resources are altered as a result of permitted exploration
			 activities.
(7) "Exploration" means
			 all activities conducted on or beneath the surface of the earth for the purpose
			 of determining presence, location, extent, grade, or economic viability of a
			 deposit. Exploration does not include prospecting.
(8) "Exploration Permit" is the permit issued
			 by the department that allows the permittee to conduct exploration activities
			 described in these rules and provides for reclamation as specified in ORS
			 517.750(13).
(9) "Groundwater" means any water
			 except capillary moisture, beneath the land surface or beneath the bed of any
			 stream, lake, reservoir or other body of surface water within the boundaries of
			 the state, whatever may be the geological formation or structure in which such
			 water stands, flows, percolates or otherwise moves.
(10) "Mined Land Reclamation Act" or "Act"
			 means the statutes codified at ORS
			 517.702 to
			 517.992.
(11) "Permit Area" is defined by boundaries
			 submitted on a map acceptable to the department and means the area to be
			 covered by an Exploration Permit. The permit area shall be a contiguous parcel
			 which is available to the permittee for exploration.
(12) "Prospecting" for the purpose of these
			 rules means activities conducted on or beneath the surface of the earth for the
			 purpose of determining presence, location, extent, grade, or economic
			 viability, but does not disturb more than one cumulative acre.
(13) "Reclamation" means the employment in
			 exploration of procedures reasonably designed to minimize as much as
			 practicable the disruption of surface and subsurface resources from exploration
			 (i.e., for example the use of measures to protect the surface and subsurface
			 water resources including but not limited to drill hole abandonments, adit
			 plugging/sealing and shaft plugging/sealing) and to provide for the
			 rehabilitation of any surface resources adversely effected by such exploration
			 through the rehabilitation of plant cover, soil stability water resources and
			 other measures appropriate to subsequent beneficial use of such explored and
			 reclaimed lands.
(14) "Exemption"
			 means exploration that is exempted from the requirements of these rules. The
			 department may require certain information to be provided under OAR
			 632-33-016(1) to establish exemptions.
Stat. Auth.:ORS 517
Stats. Implemented: ORS
				  517.750