45-6D-3. Definition of terms. Terms used in this chapter mean:

(1) "Affected land," the surface area disturbed by reason of the building of access roads or trails, leveling drill sites, storage areas, containment ponds, or other support facilities for the purpose of exploration, including the land affected by surface subsidence;

(2) "Aquifer," a water bearing bed or stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel capable of yielding usable quantities of water to wells or springs;

(3) "Board," Board of Minerals and Environment;

(4) "Bulk samples," the removal of not more than five thousand tons of mineralized material by means of a shaft, adit, or test open pit to determine the economic feasibility of conducting a mining operation;

(5) "Department," Department of Environment and Natural Resources;

(6) "Operator," any person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, association, or corporation, or any department, division, or agency of federal, state, county, or municipal government engaged in or controlling a uranium exploration operation;

(7) "Reclamation," the employment during and after a uranium exploration operation of procedures reasonably designed to minimize the disruption from the uranium exploration operation and to provide for the rehabilitation of plant cover, soil stability, water resources, or other measures appropriate to the subsequent beneficial use of such explored land;

(8) "Test hole," a well, core hole, core test, observation well, or other well drilled from the surface to determine the presence of uranium or uranium resources;

(9) "Uranium," the chemical element "u";

(10) "Uranium exploration operation," the act of searching for or investigating a uranium deposit, including sinking shafts, tunneling, drilling test holes, digging pits, or cuts or other works for the purpose of extracting samples, including bulk samples, before commencement of development or extraction operations and test facilities to prove the commercial grade of a uranium deposit. The term does not include those activities which cause very little or no surface disturbance, such as airborne surveys and photographs, use of instruments or devices which are hand carried or otherwise transported over the surface to make magnetic, radioactive, or other tests and measurements, boundary or claim surveying, location work, annual assessment work required to maintain the validity of a mineral claim or any other work which causes no greater land disturbance than is caused by ordinary lawful use of the land by persons not exploring for uranium deposits.Source: SL 1982, ch 307, § 3; SL 1994, ch 351, § 109.