The director shall:

A. exercise all powers of enforcement and administration arising under the New Mexico Mining Act not otherwise expressly delegated to the commission, execute and administer the commission's regulations and coordinate the review and issuance of permits for new and existing mining operations and exploration with all other state or federal permit processes applicable to the proposed operations;

B. enter into agreements with appropriate federal and state agencies for coordinating the review and issuance of all necessary permits to conduct new and existing mining operations and exploration in New Mexico;

C. create an advisory committee, the membership of which shall balance the interests of affected government entities, the mining industry, environmental groups, regulatory agencies and other persons as determined by the director to represent a constituency that will be affected by the provisions of the New Mexico Mining Act;

D. confer and cooperate with the secretary of environment in administering the New Mexico Mining Act, in developing proposed regulations and obtain the concurrence of the secretary of environment regarding areas of the regulations that have an impact upon programs administered by the department of environment;

E. approve a permit area and design limits for new and existing mining operations and exploration following submission of the site assessment, where applicable and prior to issuing a permit. The director shall incorporate the permit area and design limits into the permit issued;

F. review at least twelve months of baseline data and other information submitted by the applicant for a permit for a new mining operation, before the permit is approved or denied; and

G. prepare an environmental evaluation, before a permit for a new mining operation is approved or denied, which shall include an analysis of the reasonably foreseeable impacts of proposed activities on the premining and post-mining environment and the local community, including other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future actions, regardless of the agency or persons that undertake the other action or whether the actions are on private, state or federal land. The director may contract with, and the applicant shall pay for, a third party to prepare the analysis and assessment.

History: Laws 1993, ch. 315, § 9.

Temporary provisions. — Laws 2014, ch. 32, § 3 provided that on or before January 13, 2015, the director of the mining and minerals division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department shall propose amendments to the New Mexico Mining Act rules to address the frequency for the intervals at which permittees under that act can request release of their financial assurances.