47-1313. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter:

(a) "Board" means the state board of land commissioners or such representative as may be designated by the board.

(b) "Director" means the director of the department of lands or such representative as may be designated by the director.

(c) "Disturbed land" means land, natural watercourses, or existing stockpiles and waste piles affected by placer or dredge mining, remining, exploration, stockpiling of ore or wastes from placer or dredge mining, or construction of roads, tailings ponds, structures, or facilities appurtenant to placer or dredge mining operations.

(d) "Mineral" means any ore, rock, or substance extracted from a placer deposit or from an existing placer stockpile or waste pile, but does not include coal, clay, stone, sand, gravel, phosphate, uranium, oil, or gas.

(e) "Motorized earth-moving equipment" means backhoes, bulldozers, front loaders, trenchers, core drills, suction dredges with an intake diameter exceeding eight (8) inches, and other similar equipment.

(f) "Natural watercourse" means any stream in the state of Idaho having definite bed and banks, and which confines and conducts continuously flowing water.

(g) "Permit area" means that area designated under section 47-1317, Idaho Code, as the site of a proposed placer or dredge mining operation, including all lands to be disturbed by the operation.

(h) "Person" means any person, corporation, partnership, association, or public or governmental agency engaged in placer or dredge mining, whether individually, jointly, or through subsidiaries, agents, employees, or contractors.

(i) "Placer deposit" means naturally occurring unconsolidated surficial detritus containing valuable minerals, whether located inside or outside the confines of a natural watercourse.

(j) "Placer or dredge exploration operation" means activities including, but not limited to, the construction of roads, trenches, and test holes, performed on a placer deposit for the purpose of locating and determining the economic feasibility of extracting minerals by placer or dredge mining.

(k) "Placer or dredge mining" or "dredge or other placer mining" means the extraction of minerals from a placer deposit, including remining for sale, processing, or other disposition of earth material excavated from previous placer or dredge mining. The term "dredge or other placer mining," wherever used in this chapter, is subject to this definition and all provisions regarding it.

(l) "Placer or dredge mining operation" means placer or dredge mining which disturbs in excess of one-half (1/2) acre of land.

(m) "Road" means a way, including bed, slopes, and shoulders, (1) constructed within the circular tract circumscribed by a placer or dredge mining operation, or (2) constructed solely for access to a placer or dredge mining operation or placer or dredge exploration operation, provided, that a way dedicated to public multiple use or being used by a governmental land manager or private landowner at the time of cessation of operations, and not constructed solely for access to a placer or dredge mining operation or placer or dredge exploration operation, shall not be considered a road for purposes of this act.

History:

[47-1313, added 1984, ch. 102, sec. 2, p. 232.]