Section 293.01. Definitions.

  In this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1m)  “Air pollution" means the presence in the atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in such quantities and of such duration as is or tends to be injurious to human health or welfare, animal or plant life, or property, or would unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property.

(2)  “Applicant" means a person who has applied for a prospecting permit or a mining permit.

(3)  “Department" means the department of natural resources.

(4)  “Environmental pollution" means the contaminating or rendering unclean or impure the air, land or waters of the state, or making the same injurious to public health, harmful for commercial or recreational use, or deleterious to fish, bird, animal or plant life.

(5)  “Mineral exploration" or “exploration", unless the context requires otherwise, means the on-site geologic examination from the surface of an area by core, rotary, percussion or other drilling, where the diameter of the hole does not exceed 18 inches, for the purpose of searching for nonferrous metallic minerals or establishing the nature of a known nonferrous metallic mineral deposit, and includes associated activities such as clearing and preparing sites or constructing roads for drilling.

(6)  “Exploration license" means the license required under s. 293.21 (2) as a condition of engaging in exploration.

(7)  “Merchantable by-product" means all waste soil, rock, mineral, liquid, vegetation and other material directly resulting from or displaced by the mining, cleaning or preparation of nonferrous metallic minerals during mining operations which are determined by the department to be marketable upon a showing of marketability made by the operator, accompanied by a verified statement by the operator of his or her intent to sell such material within 3 years from the time it results from or is displaced by mining. If after 3 years from the time merchantable by-product results from or is displaced by mining such material has not been transported off the mining site, it shall be considered and regulated as refuse unless removal is continuing at a rate of more than 12,000 cubic yards per year.

(9)  “Mining" or “mining operation" means all or part of the process involved in the mining of nonferrous metallic minerals, other than for exploration or prospecting, including commercial extraction, agglomeration, beneficiation, construction of roads, removal of overburden and the production of refuse.

(10)  “Mining plan" means the proposal for the mining of the mining site.

(11)  “Mining permit" means the permit which is required of all operators as a condition precedent to commencing mining at a mining site.

(12)  “Mining site" means the surface area disturbed by a mining operation, including the surface area from which the nonferrous metallic minerals or refuse or both have been removed, the surface area covered by refuse, all lands disturbed by the construction or improvement of haulageways, and any surface areas in which structures, equipment, materials and any other things used in the mining operation are situated.

(12m)  “Nonferrous metallic mineral" means an ore or other earthen material to be excavated from the natural deposits on or in the earth for its metallic content but not primarily for its iron oxide content.

(13)  “Operator" means any person who is engaged in, or who has applied for or holds a permit to engage in, prospecting or mining, whether individually, jointly or through subsidiaries, agents, employees or contractors.

(16)  “Person" means an individual, owner, operator, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, municipality, interstate agency, state agency or federal agency.

(17)  “Principal shareholder" means any person who owns at least 10 percent of the beneficial ownership of an operator.

(18)  “Prospecting" means engaging in the examination of an area for the purpose of determining the quality and quantity of nonferrous metallic minerals, other than for exploration but including the obtaining of a nonferrous metallic mineral sample, by such physical means as excavating, trenching, construction of shafts, ramps and tunnels and other means, other than for exploration, which the department, by rule, identifies, and the production of prospecting refuse and other associated activities. “Prospecting" shall not include such activities when the activities are, by themselves, intended for and capable of commercial exploitation of the underlying nonferrous ore body. However, the fact that prospecting activities and construction may have use ultimately in mining, if approved, shall not mean that prospecting activities and construction constitute mining within the meaning of sub. (9) , provided such activities and construction are reasonably related to prospecting requirements.

(19)  “Prospecting permit" means the permit which is required of all persons as a condition precedent to commencing prospecting at a location.

(20)  “Prospecting plan" means the proposal for prospecting of the prospecting site.

(21)  “Prospecting site" means the lands on which prospecting is actually conducted as well as those lands on which physical disturbance will occur as a result of such activity.

(22)  “Prospector" means any person engaged in prospecting.

(23)  “Reclamation" means the process by which an area physically or environmentally affected by prospecting or mining is rehabilitated to either its original state or, if this is shown to be physically or economically impracticable or environmentally or socially undesirable, to a state that provides long-term environmental stability. Reclamation shall provide the greatest feasible protection to the environment and shall include, but is not limited to, the criteria for reclamation set forth in s. 293.13 (2) (c) .

(24)  “Reclamation plan" means the proposal for the reclamation of the prospecting or mining site which must be approved by the department under s. 293.45 or 293.49 prior to the issuance of the prospecting or mining permit.

(25)  “Refuse" means all waste soil, rock, mineral, liquid, vegetation and other material, except merchantable by-products, directly resulting from or displaced by the prospecting or mining and from the cleaning or preparation of nonferrous metallic minerals during prospecting or mining operations, and shall include all waste materials deposited on or in the prospecting or mining site from other sources.

(26)  “Related person" means any person that owns or operates a mining site in the United States and that is one of the following when an application for a mining permit is submitted to the department:

(a) The parent corporation of the applicant.

(b) A person that holds more than a 30 percent ownership interest in the applicant.

(c) A subsidiary or affiliate of the applicant in which the applicant holds more than a 30 percent ownership interest.

(27)  “Solid waste" has the meaning given under s. 281.01 (15) .

(28)  “Unsuitability" means that the land proposed for prospecting or surface mining is not suitable for such activity because the prospecting or surface mining activity itself may reasonably be expected to destroy or irreparably damage either of the following:

(a) Habitat required for survival of species of vegetation or wildlife designated as endangered through prior inclusion in rules adopted by the department, if such endangered species cannot be firmly reestablished elsewhere.

(b) Unique features of the land, as determined by state or federal designation and incorporated in rules adopted by the department, as any of the following, which cannot have their unique characteristic preserved by relocation or replacement elsewhere:

1. Wilderness areas.

2. Wild and scenic rivers.

3. National or state parks.

4. Wildlife refuges and areas.

5. Archaeological areas.

5m. Listed properties, as defined in s. 44.31 (4) .

6. Other lands of a type designated as unique or unsuitable for prospecting or surface mining.

(29)  “Waters of the state" includes those portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior within the boundaries of this state, and all lakes, bays, rivers, streams, springs, ponds, wells, impounding reservoirs, marshes, watercourses, drainage systems and other surface water or groundwater, natural or artificial, public or private, within this state or its jurisdiction.

(30)  “Water supply" means the sources and their surroundings from which water is supplied for drinking or domestic purposes.

1973 c. 318 ; 1977 c. 377 s. 29m ; 1977 c. 421 , 447 ; 1983 a. 27 , 517 ; 1987 a. 395 ; 1991 a. 260 ; 1995 a. 227 ss. 721 to 742 , 994 ; Stats. 1995 s. 293.01; 2013 a. 1 .