17.4.724    FEE ASSESSMENT CATEGORIES: STRIP AND UNDERGROUND MINE RECLAMATION

The Strip and Underground Mine Reclamation Act categories are as follows:

(1) Prospecting categories, include, but are not limited to: access rights; land acquisition; application information and preparation; bonding; license fees; resource data inventories; professional services and evaluations; equipment; all disturbances including road construction and renovations; core drilling; blasting; removal and deposition of overburden and other materials; mineral extraction and haulage; water and pollution control measures; and all other prospecting activities.

(2) Costs associated with prospecting reclamation, include, but are not limited to: equipment; topsoil salvage, haulage and redistribution; problem spoil; cuttings or waste handling procedures; backfilling; regrading; core hole plugging; sealing of artesian wells or other aquifers; subsidence controls; water and pollution control measures; revegetation activities and all other reclamation activities.

(3) Contingency costs associated with the prospecting project include but are not limited to: salaries; wages; fringe benefits; insurance; rents; premiums; retainers; and all other costs associated with the project.

(4) Costs associated with facility construction, include, but are not limited to: land acquisition; construction and other disturbance activities; blasting; equipment; all facilities, railroad loops and spurs; road construction and renovation; power and transmission lines; resource data inventories on the proposed facility; professional services and evaluations; application information and preparation; erection sites; waste disposal areas; treatment ponds; water and pollution control measures; and other facility related component costs.

(5) Costs associated with mining include but are not limited to: land acquisition; application information and preparation; permit fee; bonding; resource data inventories covering the future mining acreage; professional services and evaluations; equipment; road construction and renovation; waste disposal areas; treatment ponds; water and erosion control measures; blasting; overburden removal and deposition; mineral extraction, haulage, and further processing prior to shipment; and all other mining related activities.

(6) Costs associated with mining reclamation include but are not limited to: equipment; topsoil salvage; haulage and redistribution; problem soil; spoil and debris burial; treatment procedures; highwall reduction; backfilling and subsidence controls; regrading; revegetation activities; water and erosion control measures; post mining spoil, vegetation, and wildlife testing and monitoring for bond release; dismantling and removal of facilities; and all other costs associated with reclamation of facility site and mining disturbance.

(7) Contingency costs associated with the mining project include but are not limited to: salaries; wages; fringe benefits; insurance; rents; premiums; retainers; and all other costs associated with the project.

(8) Coal conservation costs are any additional costs to the mining project incurred because of the coal conservation requirements shall be submitted by the applicant. The various costs should be broken down and itemized under the various categories. All categories, including but not limited to those listed below, should be addressed. The categories are: mining of additional seams; removal of pit wedges; change in mining plans and all other related coal conservation categories.

History: 75-1-202, MCA; IMP, 75-1-202, MCA; NEW, Eff. 4/15/76; TRANS, from DSL, 1996 MAR p. 1497.