{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/45.2-1101.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/45.2-1101.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/45.2-1101.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/45.2-1101.html"}],"law_id":84220,"edition_id":1,"section_id":84220,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1101","catch_line":"Definitions","history":"1997, c. 390, \u00a7 45.1-161.292:2; 1998, c. 695; 2012, cc. 803, 835; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2025, cc. 390, 405.","full_text":"As used in the Mineral Mine Safety Act and in regulations adopted under the Act, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Abandoned area” means the inaccessible area of an underground mine that is sealed or ventilated and in which further mining is not intended.\n\t\t“Accident” means (i) a death of an individual at a mine; (ii) a serious personal injury; (iii) an entrapment of an individual for more than 30 minutes; (iv) an unplanned inundation of a mine by liquid or gas; (v) an unplanned ignition or explosion of gas or dust; (vi) an unplanned mine fire not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery; (vii) an unplanned ignition or explosion of a blasting agent or an explosive; (viii) an unplanned roof fall at or above the anchorage zone in active workings where roof bolts are in use, or an unplanned roof or rib fall in active workings that impairs ventilation or impedes passage; (ix) a rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners or that disrupts regular mining activity for more than one hour; (x) an unstable condition at a water or silt retaining dam or mine refuse pile that requires emergency action in order to prevent failure or causes individuals to evacuate an area, or failure of such retaining dam or refuse pile; (xi) damage to hoisting equipment in a shaft or slope that endangers an individual or interferes with use of the equipment for more than 30 minutes; and (xii) an event at a mine that causes death or serious personal injury to any individual not at a mine at the time the event occurs.\n\t\t“Active area” means any place in a mine that is ventilated, if underground, and examined regularly.\n\t\t“Active workings” means any place in a mine where miners are normally required to work or travel.\n\t\t“Agent” means any person charged by the operator with responsibility for the operation of all or a part of a mine or the supervision of miners in a mine.\n\t\t“Approved” means, with reference to a device, apparatus, equipment, condition, method, course, or practice, approved in writing by the Director.\n\t\t“Approved competent person” means a person with more than two years of experience designated by the Department as having the authority to function as a mine foreman even though the person has less than five years of experience. If an approved competent person meets all the criteria for certification as a mine foreman other than the experience criteria, he may perform the duties of a mine foreman except the pre-shift examination.\n\t\t“Armored cable” means a cable provided with a wrapping of metal, plastic, or other approved material.\n\t\t“Authorized person” means a person who is assigned by the operator or agent to perform a specific type of duty or to be at a specific location in the mine and is task-trained in accordance with requirements of the federal mine safety law.\n\t\t“Blower fan” means a fan with tubing used to direct part of a particular circuit of air to a working place.\n\t\t“Booster fan” means an underground fan installed in conjunction with a main fan to increase the volume of air in one or more circuits.\n\t\t“Cable” means (i) a stranded conductor, known as single-conductor cable, or (ii) a combination of conductors insulated from one another, known as multiple-conductor cable.\n\t\t“Certified person” means a person who holds a valid certificate from the Department authorizing him to perform the particular task to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Circuit” means a conducting part or a system of conducting parts through which an electric current is intended to flow.\n\t\t“Circuit breaker” means a device for interrupting a circuit between separable contacts under normal or abnormal conditions.\n\t\t“Competent person” means a person having abilities and experience that fully qualify him to perform the particular duty to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Cross entry” means any entry or set of entries, turned from main entries, from which room entries are turned.\n\t\t“Division” means the Division of Mineral Mining.\n\t\t“Experienced surface miner” means a person with more than six months of experience working at a surface mine or the surface area of an underground mine.\n\t\t“Experienced underground miner” means a person with more than six months of underground mining experience.\n\t\t“Federal mine safety law” means the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (P.L. 91-173, as amended by P.L. 95-164) and regulations adopted thereunder.\n\t\t“Fuse” means an overcurrent protective device with a circuit-opening fusible member directly heated and destroyed by the passage of overcurrent through it.\n\t\t“Ground” means a conducting connection between an electric circuit or electrical equipment and earth or some conducting body that serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Grounded” means connected to earth or to some connecting body that serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Hazardous condition” means a condition that is likely to cause death or serious personal injury to a person exposed to such condition.\n\t\t“Imminent danger” means the existence of any condition or practice in a mine that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious personal injury before such condition or practice can be abated.\n\t\t“Inactive mine” means a mine (i) at which (a) coal or minerals have not been excavated or processed or (b) work, other than examination by a certified person or emergency work to preserve the mine, has not been performed for a period of 30 days at an underground mine or for a period of 60 days at a surface mine; (ii) for which a valid license is in effect; and (iii) at which reclamation activities have not been completed.\n\t\t“Independent contractor” means any person who contracts to perform services or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Intake air” means air that has not passed through the last active working place of the split or by the unsealed entrance to an abandoned area and by analysis contains at least 19.5 percent oxygen and not more than 0.5 percent carbon dioxide and does not contain a hazardous quantity of flammable gas or a harmful quantity of poisonous gas.\n\t\t“Interested persons” means members of the mine safety committee and other duly authorized representatives of the employees at a mine, MSHA employees, mine inspectors, and, to the extent required by the Act, any other person.\n\t\t“Licensed operator” means the operator who has obtained the license for a particular mine under \u00a7 45.2-1124.\n\t\t“Main entry” means the principal entry or set of entries driven through the coal bed or mineral deposit and from which cross entries, room entries, or rooms are turned.\n\t\t“Mine” means any underground mineral mine or surface mineral mine. Mines that are adjacent to each other and under the same management and that are administered as distinct units are considered separate mines. A site is not considered a mine unless the mineral extracted or excavated from it is offered for sale or exchange or used for any other commercial purpose.\n\t\t“Mine fire” means an unplanned fire not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery.\n\t\t“Mine foreman” means a person who holds a valid certificate of qualification as a foreman issued by the Department.\n\t\t“Mine inspector” means a public employee assigned by the Director to make mine inspections as required by the Mineral Mine Safety Act or other applicable law.\n\t\t“Miner” means any individual working in a mineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral” means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous or nonmetalliferous ore, or any other solid material or substance of commercial value excavated in solid form from a natural deposit on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and any mineral that occurs naturally in liquid or gaseous form.\n\t\t“Mineral mine” means a surface mineral mine or an underground mineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral Mine Safety Act” or “the Act” means this chapter and Chapters 14 (\u00a7 45.2-1400 et seq.) and 15 (\u00a7 45.2-1500 et seq.) and includes any regulations adopted thereunder, where applicable.\n\t\t“Mine Safety and Health Administration” or “MSHA” means the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.\n\t\t“Operator” means any person who operates, controls, or supervises a mine or any independent contractor performing services or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Panel entry” means a room entry.\n\t\t“Permissible” means any device, process, equipment, or method classified at any time as permissible by MSHA, when such classification is adopted by the Director. “Permissible” includes, unless otherwise herein expressly stated, any requirement, restriction, exception, limitation, or condition attached to such classification by MSHA.\n\t\t“Return air” means air that has passed through (i) the last active working place on each split or (ii) an abandoned or worked-out area. No area within a panel shall be deemed abandoned until it is inaccessible or sealed.\n\t\t“Room entry” means any entry or set of entries from which a room is turned.\n\t\t“Serious personal injury” means any injury that (i) has a reasonable potential to cause death or (ii) is other than a sprain or strain and requires an admission to a hospital for 24 hours or more for medical treatment.\n\t\t“Substation” means an electrical installation containing generating or power-conversion equipment and associated electric equipment and parts, such as switchboards, switches, wiring, fuses, circuit breakers, compensators, and transformers.\n\t\t“Surface mineral mine” means (i) the pit and any other active or inactive area of surface extraction of minerals; (ii) any onsite mill, shop, loadout facility, or related structure appurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals; (iii) any impoundment, water or silt retaining dam, tailing pond, mine refuse pile, or other area appurtenant to the extraction of minerals from the site; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or storage of minerals excavated at the site; (v) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property used in, or to be used in, the work of extracting minerals from the site; (vi) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (vii) any area used for surface-disturbing exploration, other than by drilling or seismic testing, or for preparation of a site for surface mineral extraction activity. A site shall commence being a surface mineral mine upon the beginning of any surface-disturbing exploration activity other than exploratory drilling or seismic testing and shall cease to be a surface mineral mine upon completion of initial reclamation activities. The surface extraction of a mineral shall not constitute surface mineral mining unless the mineral (a) is extracted for its unique or intrinsic characteristics or (b) requires processing prior to its intended use.\n\t\tExcavation or grading when conducted solely in aid of onsite farming or construction shall not constitute a surface mineral mine. Such exemption shall not be construed to limit a landowner in a one-time construction or expansion of a farm pond for agricultural irrigation or provision of water for livestock to beneficially reuse the soil or sand, provided that such pond construction or expansion project (1) is a one-time activity on that parcel of land, (2) is completed within one year, (3) results in a pond that is less than three acres in total, and (4) has all necessary permits and local approvals in place before such activity begins.\n\t\t“Travel way” means a passage, walk, or way regularly used and designated for persons to use in going from one place to another.\n\t\t“Underground mineral mine” means (i) the working face and any other active or inactive area of underground excavation of minerals; (ii) any underground travel way, shaft, slope, drift, incline, or tunnel connected to such area; (iii) any onsite mill, loadout area, shop, or related facility appurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or storage of minerals excavated at the site; (v) any impoundment, retention dam, tailing pond, or waste area appurtenant to the excavation of minerals from the site; (vi) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property, on the surface or underground, used in, or to be used in, the excavation of minerals from the site; (vii) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (viii) any area used to prepare a site for underground mineral excavation activities. A site commences being an underground mineral mine upon the beginning of any site preparation activity other than exploratory drilling or other exploration activity and ceases to be an underground mineral mine upon completion of initial reclamation activities.\n\t\t“Work area,” as used in Chapter 9 (\u00a7 45.2-900 et seq.), means an area of a mine in production or being prepared for production or an area of a mine that may pose a danger to miners at such area in production or being prepared for production.\n\t\t“Working face” means any place in a mine in which work of extracting minerals from their natural deposit in the earth is performed during the mining cycle.\n\t\t“Working place” means the area of an underground mine inby the last open crosscut.\n\t\t“Working section” means the portion of a mine encompassing all areas from the loading point of a section to and including the working faces.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":301856,"text":"As used in the Mineral Mine Safety Act and in regulations adopted under the Act, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Abandoned area” means the inaccessible area of an underground mine that is sealed or ventilated and in which further mining is not intended.\n\t\t“Accident” means (i) a death of an individual at a mine; (ii) a serious personal injury; (iii) an entrapment of an individual for more than 30 minutes; (iv) an unplanned inundation of a mine by liquid or gas; (v) an unplanned ignition or explosion of gas or dust; (vi) an unplanned mine fire not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery; (vii) an unplanned ignition or explosion of a blasting agent or an explosive; (viii) an unplanned roof fall at or above the anchorage zone in active workings where roof bolts are in use, or an unplanned roof or rib fall in active workings that impairs ventilation or impedes passage; (ix) a rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners or that disrupts regular mining activity for more than one hour; (x) an unstable condition at a water or silt retaining dam or mine refuse pile that requires emergency action in order to prevent failure or causes individuals to evacuate an area, or failure of such retaining dam or refuse pile; (xi) damage to hoisting equipment in a shaft or slope that endangers an individual or interferes with use of the equipment for more than 30 minutes; and (xii) an event at a mine that causes death or serious personal injury to any individual not at a mine at the time the event occurs.\n\t\t“Active area” means any place in a mine that is ventilated, if underground, and examined regularly.\n\t\t“Active workings” means any place in a mine where miners are normally required to work or travel.\n\t\t“Agent” means any person charged by the operator with responsibility for the operation of all or a part of a mine or the supervision of miners in a mine.\n\t\t“Approved” means, with reference to a device, apparatus, equipment, condition, method, course, or practice, approved in writing by the Director.\n\t\t“Approved competent person” means a person with more than two years of experience designated by the Department as having the authority to function as a mine foreman even though the person has less than five years of experience. If an approved competent person meets all the criteria for certification as a mine foreman other than the experience criteria, he may perform the duties of a mine foreman except the pre-shift examination.\n\t\t“Armored cable” means a cable provided with a wrapping of metal, plastic, or other approved material.\n\t\t“Authorized person” means a person who is assigned by the operator or agent to perform a specific type of duty or to be at a specific location in the mine and is task-trained in accordance with requirements of the federal mine safety law.\n\t\t“Blower fan” means a fan with tubing used to direct part of a particular circuit of air to a working place.\n\t\t“Booster fan” means an underground fan installed in conjunction with a main fan to increase the volume of air in one or more circuits.\n\t\t“Cable” means (i) a stranded conductor, known as single-conductor cable, or (ii) a combination of conductors insulated from one another, known as multiple-conductor cable.\n\t\t“Certified person” means a person who holds a valid certificate from the Department authorizing him to perform the particular task to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Circuit” means a conducting part or a system of conducting parts through which an electric current is intended to flow.\n\t\t“Circuit breaker” means a device for interrupting a circuit between separable contacts under normal or abnormal conditions.\n\t\t“Competent person” means a person having abilities and experience that fully qualify him to perform the particular duty to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Cross entry” means any entry or set of entries, turned from main entries, from which room entries are turned.\n\t\t“Division” means the Division of Mineral Mining.\n\t\t“Experienced surface miner” means a person with more than six months of experience working at a surface mine or the surface area of an underground mine.\n\t\t“Experienced underground miner” means a person with more than six months of underground mining experience.\n\t\t“Federal mine safety law” means the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (P.L. 91-173, as amended by P.L. 95-164) and regulations adopted thereunder.\n\t\t“Fuse” means an overcurrent protective device with a circuit-opening fusible member directly heated and destroyed by the passage of overcurrent through it.\n\t\t“Ground” means a conducting connection between an electric circuit or electrical equipment and earth or some conducting body that serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Grounded” means connected to earth or to some connecting body that serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Hazardous condition” means a condition that is likely to cause death or serious personal injury to a person exposed to such condition.\n\t\t“Imminent danger” means the existence of any condition or practice in a mine that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious personal injury before such condition or practice can be abated.\n\t\t“Inactive mine” means a mine (i) at which (a) coal or minerals have not been excavated or processed or (b) work, other than examination by a certified person or emergency work to preserve the mine, has not been performed for a period of 30 days at an underground mine or for a period of 60 days at a surface mine; (ii) for which a valid license is in effect; and (iii) at which reclamation activities have not been completed.\n\t\t“Independent contractor” means any person who contracts to perform services or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Intake air” means air that has not passed through the last active working place of the split or by the unsealed entrance to an abandoned area and by analysis contains at least 19.5 percent oxygen and not more than 0.5 percent carbon dioxide and does not contain a hazardous quantity of flammable gas or a harmful quantity of poisonous gas.\n\t\t“Interested persons” means members of the mine safety committee and other duly authorized representatives of the employees at a mine, MSHA employees, mine inspectors, and, to the extent required by the Act, any other person.\n\t\t“Licensed operator” means the operator who has obtained the license for a particular mine under \u00a7 45.2-1124.\n\t\t“Main entry” means the principal entry or set of entries driven through the coal bed or mineral deposit and from which cross entries, room entries, or rooms are turned.\n\t\t“Mine” means any underground mineral mine or surface mineral mine. Mines that are adjacent to each other and under the same management and that are administered as distinct units are considered separate mines. A site is not considered a mine unless the mineral extracted or excavated from it is offered for sale or exchange or used for any other commercial purpose.\n\t\t“Mine fire” means an unplanned fire not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery.\n\t\t“Mine foreman” means a person who holds a valid certificate of qualification as a foreman issued by the Department.\n\t\t“Mine inspector” means a public employee assigned by the Director to make mine inspections as required by the Mineral Mine Safety Act or other applicable law.\n\t\t“Miner” means any individual working in a mineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral” means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous or nonmetalliferous ore, or any other solid material or substance of commercial value excavated in solid form from a natural deposit on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and any mineral that occurs naturally in liquid or gaseous form.\n\t\t“Mineral mine” means a surface mineral mine or an underground mineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral Mine Safety Act” or “the Act” means this chapter and Chapters 14 (\u00a7 45.2-1400 et seq.) and 15 (\u00a7 45.2-1500 et seq.) and includes any regulations adopted thereunder, where applicable.\n\t\t“Mine Safety and Health Administration” or “MSHA” means the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.\n\t\t“Operator” means any person who operates, controls, or supervises a mine or any independent contractor performing services or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Panel entry” means a room entry.\n\t\t“Permissible” means any device, process, equipment, or method classified at any time as permissible by MSHA, when such classification is adopted by the Director. “Permissible” includes, unless otherwise herein expressly stated, any requirement, restriction, exception, limitation, or condition attached to such classification by MSHA.\n\t\t“Return air” means air that has passed through (i) the last active working place on each split or (ii) an abandoned or worked-out area. No area within a panel shall be deemed abandoned until it is inaccessible or sealed.\n\t\t“Room entry” means any entry or set of entries from which a room is turned.\n\t\t“Serious personal injury” means any injury that (i) has a reasonable potential to cause death or (ii) is other than a sprain or strain and requires an admission to a hospital for 24 hours or more for medical treatment.\n\t\t“Substation” means an electrical installation containing generating or power-conversion equipment and associated electric equipment and parts, such as switchboards, switches, wiring, fuses, circuit breakers, compensators, and transformers.\n\t\t“Surface mineral mine” means (i) the pit and any other active or inactive area of surface extraction of minerals; (ii) any onsite mill, shop, loadout facility, or related structure appurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals; (iii) any impoundment, water or silt retaining dam, tailing pond, mine refuse pile, or other area appurtenant to the extraction of minerals from the site; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or storage of minerals excavated at the site; (v) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property used in, or to be used in, the work of extracting minerals from the site; (vi) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (vii) any area used for surface-disturbing exploration, other than by drilling or seismic testing, or for preparation of a site for surface mineral extraction activity. A site shall commence being a surface mineral mine upon the beginning of any surface-disturbing exploration activity other than exploratory drilling or seismic testing and shall cease to be a surface mineral mine upon completion of initial reclamation activities. The surface extraction of a mineral shall not constitute surface mineral mining unless the mineral (a) is extracted for its unique or intrinsic characteristics or (b) requires processing prior to its intended use.\n\t\tExcavation or grading when conducted solely in aid of onsite farming or construction shall not constitute a surface mineral mine. Such exemption shall not be construed to limit a landowner in a one-time construction or expansion of a farm pond for agricultural irrigation or provision of water for livestock to beneficially reuse the soil or sand, provided that such pond construction or expansion project (1) is a one-time activity on that parcel of land, (2) is completed within one year, (3) results in a pond that is less than three acres in total, and (4) has all necessary permits and local approvals in place before such activity begins.\n\t\t“Travel way” means a passage, walk, or way regularly used and designated for persons to use in going from one place to another.\n\t\t“Underground mineral mine” means (i) the working face and any other active or inactive area of underground excavation of minerals; (ii) any underground travel way, shaft, slope, drift, incline, or tunnel connected to such area; (iii) any onsite mill, loadout area, shop, or related facility appurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or storage of minerals excavated at the site; (v) any impoundment, retention dam, tailing pond, or waste area appurtenant to the excavation of minerals from the site; (vi) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property, on the surface or underground, used in, or to be used in, the excavation of minerals from the site; (vii) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (viii) any area used to prepare a site for underground mineral excavation activities. A site commences being an underground mineral mine upon the beginning of any site preparation activity other than exploratory drilling or other exploration activity and ceases to be an underground mineral mine upon completion of initial reclamation activities.\n\t\t“Work area,” as used in Chapter 9 (\u00a7 45.2-900 et seq.), means an area of a mine in production or being prepared for production or an area of a mine that may pose a danger to miners at such area in production or being prepared for production.\n\t\t“Working face” means any place in a mine in which work of extracting minerals from their natural deposit in the earth is performed during the mining cycle.\n\t\t“Working place” means the area of an underground mine inby the last open crosscut.\n\t\t“Working section” means the portion of a mine encompassing all areas from the loading point of a section to and including the working faces.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":14548,"edition_id":1,"name":"General Provisions","identifier":"1","label":"article","depth":5,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12951,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:48:37","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:48:37","permalink":{"id":224115,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":14548,"identifier":"1","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1","url":"\/45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12951,"edition_id":1,"name":"Mineral Mine Safety Act","identifier":"11","label":"chapter","depth":4,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12950,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","permalink":{"id":224113,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12951,"identifier":"11","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11","url":"\/45.2\/III\/A\/11\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12950,"edition_id":1,"name":"Mineral Mines Generally","identifier":"A","label":"part","depth":3,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12949,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","permalink":{"id":224111,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12950,"identifier":"A","token":"45.2\/III\/A","url":"\/45.2\/III\/A\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12949,"edition_id":1,"name":"Mineral Mines","identifier":"III","label":"subtitle","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12713,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","permalink":{"id":224109,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12949,"identifier":"III","token":"45.2\/III","url":"\/45.2\/III\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12713,"edition_id":1,"name":"Mines, Minerals, and Energy","identifier":"45.2","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:49","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:49","permalink":{"id":222539,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12713,"identifier":"45.2","token":"45.2","url":"\/45.2\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":83497,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1100","catch_line":" Mineral Mine Safety Act","url":"\/45.2-1100\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1100","metadata":false},{"id":84220,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1101","catch_line":"Definitions","url":"\/45.2-1101\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1101","metadata":false},{"id":56008,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1102","catch_line":" Safety and health","url":"\/45.2-1102\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1102","metadata":false},{"id":61009,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1103","catch_line":" Special safety rules","url":"\/45.2-1103\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1103","metadata":false},{"id":60638,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1104","catch_line":" Persons permitted to work in mines; age requirements","url":"\/45.2-1104\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1104","metadata":false},{"id":65585,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1105","catch_line":"Prohibited acts by miners or other persons; miners to comply with law","url":"\/45.2-1105\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1105","metadata":false},{"id":83460,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1106","catch_line":" Safety materials and supplies","url":"\/45.2-1106\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1106","metadata":false},{"id":79675,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1107","catch_line":" Notifying miners of violations; compliance with Act","url":"\/45.2-1107\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1107","metadata":false}],"previous_section":{"id":83497,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1100","catch_line":" Mineral Mine Safety Act","url":"\/45.2-1100\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1100","metadata":false},"next_section":{"id":56008,"structure_id":14548,"section_number":"45.2-1102","catch_line":" Safety and health","url":"\/45.2-1102\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1102","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/45.2-1101\/","history_text":"

This law was first created in 1997. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapter 390<\/a> of that year\u2019s edition of \u201cActs of Assembly,\u201d the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year. It has been modified 3 times. Those modifications are cataloged by \u201cThe Acts of Assembly,\u201d a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly\u2019s website will be linked accordingly. Those modifications are as follows: in 1998, chapter 695<\/a>; in 2012, chapters 803<\/a> and 835<\/a>; in 2025, chapters 390<\/a> and 405<\/a>.<\/p>","references":[{"id":80733,"section_number":"10.1-408","catch_line":"Uses not affected by scenic river designation","order_by":null,"url":"\/10.1-408\/"}],"refers_to":[{"id":69765,"section_number":"45.2-1124","catch_line":"License required for operation of mineral mines; term","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-1124\/"},{"id":80153,"section_number":"45.2-1400","catch_line":" Scope of chapter","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-1400\/"},{"id":65350,"section_number":"45.2-1500","catch_line":" Scope of chapter","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-1500\/"},{"id":61284,"section_number":"45.2-900","catch_line":" Scope of chapter","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-900\/"}],"permalink":{"id":224121,"object_type":"law","relational_id":84220,"identifier":"45.2-1101","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1101","url":"\/45.2-1101\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/45.2-1101\/","token":"45.2\/III\/A\/11\/1\/45.2-1101","dublin_core":{"Title":"Definitions","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 45.2-1101","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

As used in the Mineral Mine Safety Act<\/span> and in regulations adopted under the Act<\/span>, unless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Abandoned area<\/span>” means the inaccessible area of an underground mine that is sealed<\/span> or ventilated and in which further mining is not intended.\n\t\t“Accident<\/span>” means (i) a death of an individual at a mine; (ii) a serious personal injury<\/span>; (iii) an entrapment<\/span> of an individual for more than 30 minutes; (iv) an unplanned inundation of a mine by liquid or gas; (v) an unplanned ignition or explosion of gas or dust; (vi) an unplanned mine fire<\/span> not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery<\/span>; (vii) an unplanned ignition or explosion of a blasting agent<\/span> or an explosive; (viii) an unplanned roof fall at or above the anchorage zone in active workings<\/span> where roof bolts are in use, or an unplanned roof or rib fall in active workings<\/span> that impairs ventilation or impedes passage; (ix) a rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners<\/span> or that disrupts regular mining activity for more than one hour; (x) an unstable condition at a water or silt retaining dam or mine refuse pile that requires emergency action in order<\/span> to prevent failure or causes individuals to evacuate an area, or failure of such retaining dam or refuse pile; (xi) damage to hoisting equipment in a shaft or slope that endangers an individual or interferes with use of the equipment for more than 30 minutes; and (xii) an event at a mine that causes death or serious personal injury<\/span> to any individual not at a mine at the time the event occurs.\n\t\t“Active area<\/span>” means any place in a mine that is ventilated, if underground, and examined regularly.\n\t\t“Active workings<\/span>” means any place in a mine where miners<\/span> are normally required to work or travel.\n\t\t“Agent<\/span>” means any person charged by the operator with responsibility for the operation of all or a part of a mine or the supervision of miners<\/span> in a mine.\n\t\t“Approved” means, with reference to a device, apparatus, equipment, condition, method, course, or practice, approved in writing by the Director<\/span>.\n\t\t“Approved competent person<\/span>” means a person with more than two years of experience designated by the Department<\/span> as having the authority to function as a mine foreman<\/span> even though the person has less than five years of experience. If an approved competent person<\/span> meets all the criteria for certification as a mine foreman<\/span> other than the experience criteria, he may perform the duties of a mine foreman<\/span> except the pre-shift examination.\n\t\t“Armored cable<\/span>” means a cable provided with a wrapping of metal, plastic, or other approved material<\/span>.\n\t\t“Authorized person<\/span>” means a person who is assigned by the operator or agent<\/span> to perform a specific type of duty or to be at a specific location in the mine and is task-trained in accordance with requirements of the federal mine safety law<\/span>.\n\t\t“Blower fan<\/span>” means a fan with tubing used to direct part of a particular circuit of air to a working place<\/span>.\n\t\t“Booster fan<\/span>” means an underground fan installed in conjunction with a main fan to increase the volume of air in one or more circuits<\/span>.\n\t\t“Cable” means (i) a stranded conductor, known as single-conductor cable, or (ii) a combination of conductors insulated from one another, known as multiple-conductor cable.\n\t\t“Certified person<\/span>” means a person who holds a valid certificate from the Department<\/span> authorizing him to perform the particular task to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Circuit” means a conducting part or a system of conducting parts through which an electric current is intended to flow.\n\t\t“Circuit breaker<\/span>” means a device for interrupting a circuit between separable contacts under normal or abnormal conditions.\n\t\t“Competent person” means a person having abilities and experience that fully qualify him to perform the particular duty to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Cross entry<\/span>” means any entry or set of entries, turned from main entries, from which room entries are turned.\n\t\t“Division<\/span>” means the Division<\/span> of Mineral Mining.\n\t\t“Experienced surface miner<\/span>” means a person with more than six months of experience working at a surface mine or the surface area of an underground mine.\n\t\t“Experienced underground miner<\/span>” means a person with more than six months of underground mining experience.\n\t\t“Federal mine safety law<\/span>” means the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (P.L. 91-173, as amended by P.L. 95-164) and regulations adopted thereunder.\n\t\t“Fuse<\/span>” means an overcurrent protective device with a circuit-opening fusible member directly heated and destroyed by the passage of overcurrent through it.\n\t\t“Ground<\/span>” means a conducting connection between an electric circuit or electrical equipment and earth or some conducting body that serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Grounded<\/span>” means connected to earth or to some connecting body that serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Hazardous condition<\/span>” means a condition that is likely to cause death or serious personal injury<\/span> to a person exposed to such condition.\n\t\t“Imminent danger<\/span>” means the existence of any condition or practice in a mine that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious personal injury<\/span> before such condition or practice can be abated.\n\t\t“Inactive mine<\/span>” means a mine (i) at which (a) coal or minerals<\/span> have not been excavated or processed or (b) work, other than examination by a certified person<\/span> or emergency work to preserve the mine, has not been performed for a period of 30 days at an underground mine or for a period of 60 days at a surface mine; (ii) for which a valid license is in effect; and (iii) at which reclamation activities have not been completed.\n\t\t“Independent contractor<\/span>” means any person who contracts<\/span> to perform services or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Intake air<\/span>” means air that has not passed through the last active working place<\/span> of the split or by the unsealed entrance to an abandoned area<\/span> and by analysis contains at least 19.5 percent oxygen and not more than 0.5 percent carbon dioxide and does not contain a hazardous quantity of flammable gas or a harmful quantity of poisonous gas.\n\t\t“Interested persons<\/span>” means members of the mine safety committee and other duly authorized representatives of the employees at a mine, MSHA<\/span> employees, mine inspectors<\/span>, and, to the extent required by the Act<\/span>, any other person.\n\t\t“Licensed operator<\/span>” means the operator who has obtained the license for a particular mine under \u00a7 45.2-1124<\/a>.\n\t\t“Main entry<\/span>” means the principal entry or set of entries driven through the coal bed or mineral deposit and from which cross entries, room entries, or rooms are turned.\n\t\t“Mine” means any underground mineral mine<\/span> or surface mineral mine<\/span>. Mines<\/span> that are adjacent to each other and under the same management and that are administered as distinct units are considered separate mines<\/span>. A site is not considered a mine unless the mineral extracted or excavated from it is offered for sale or exchange or used for any other commercial purpose.\n\t\t“Mine fire<\/span>” means an unplanned fire not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery<\/span>.\n\t\t“Mine foreman<\/span>” means a person who holds a valid certificate of qualification as a foreman issued by the Department<\/span>.\n\t\t“Mine inspector<\/span>” means a public employee assigned by the Director<\/span> to make mine inspections as required by the Mineral Mine Safety Act<\/span> or other applicable law.\n\t\t“Miner” means any individual working in a mineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral” means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous or nonmetalliferous ore, or any other solid material<\/span> or substance of commercial value excavated in solid form from a natural deposit on or in the earth, exclusive of coal and any mineral that occurs naturally in liquid or gaseous form.\n\t\t“Mineral mine” means a surface mineral mine<\/span> or an underground mineral mine<\/span>.\n\t\t“Mineral Mine Safety Act<\/span>” or “the Act<\/span>” means this chapter and Chapters 14 (\u00a7 45.2-1400<\/a> et seq.) and 15 (\u00a7 45.2-1500<\/a> et seq.) and includes any regulations adopted thereunder, where applicable.\n\t\t“Mine Safety and Health Administration<\/span>” or “MSHA<\/span>” means the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration<\/span>.\n\t\t“Operator” means any person who operates, controls, or supervises a mine or any independent contractor<\/span> performing services or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Panel entry<\/span>” means a room entry<\/span>.\n\t\t“Permissible<\/span>” means any device, process, equipment, or method classified at any time as permissible<\/span> by MSHA<\/span>, when such classification is adopted by the Director<\/span>. “Permissible<\/span>” includes, unless otherwise herein expressly stated, any requirement, restriction, exception, limitation, or condition attached to such classification by MSHA<\/span>.\n\t\t“Return air<\/span>” means air that has passed through (i) the last active working place<\/span> on each split or (ii) an abandoned or worked-out area. No area within a panel shall be deemed abandoned until it is inaccessible or sealed<\/span>.\n\t\t“Room entry<\/span>” means any entry or set of entries from which a room is turned.\n\t\t“Serious personal injury<\/span>” means any injury that (i) has a reasonable potential to cause death or (ii) is other than a sprain or strain and requires an admission to a hospital for 24 hours or more for medical treatment.\n\t\t“Substation<\/span>” means an electrical installation containing generating or power-conversion equipment and associated electric equipment and parts, such as switchboards, switches, wiring, fuses<\/span>, circuit breakers<\/span>, compensators, and transformers.\n\t\t“Surface mineral mine<\/span>” means (i) the pit and any other active or inactive area of surface extraction of minerals<\/span>; (ii) any onsite mill, shop, loadout facility, or related structure appurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals<\/span>; (iii) any impoundment, water or silt retaining dam, tailing pond, mine refuse pile, or other area appurtenant to the extraction of minerals<\/span> from the site; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or storage of minerals<\/span> excavated at the site; (v) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property used in, or to be used in, the work of extracting minerals<\/span> from the site; (vi) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (vii) any area used for surface-disturbing exploration, other than by drilling or seismic testing, or for preparation of a site for surface mineral extraction activity. A site shall commence being a surface mineral mine<\/span> upon the beginning of any surface-disturbing exploration activity other than exploratory drilling or seismic testing and shall cease to be a surface mineral mine<\/span> upon completion of initial reclamation activities. The surface extraction of a mineral shall not constitute surface mineral mining unless the mineral (a) is extracted for its unique or intrinsic characteristics or (b) requires processing prior to its intended use.\n\t\tExcavation or grading when conducted solely in aid of onsite farming or construction shall not constitute a surface mineral mine<\/span>. Such exemption shall not be construed to limit a landowner in a one-time construction or expansion of a farm pond for agricultural irrigation or provision of water for livestock to beneficially reuse the soil or sand, provided that such pond construction or expansion project (1) is a one-time activity on that parcel of land, (2) is completed within one year, (3) results in a pond that is less than three acres in total, and (4) has all necessary permits and local approvals in place before such activity begins.\n\t\t“Travel way<\/span>” means a passage, walk, or way regularly used and designated for persons to use in going from one place to another.\n\t\t“Underground mineral mine<\/span>” means (i) the working face<\/span> and any other active or inactive area of underground excavation of minerals<\/span>; (ii) any underground travel way<\/span>, shaft, slope, drift, incline, or tunnel connected to such area; (iii) any onsite mill, loadout area, shop, or related facility appurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals<\/span>; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or storage of minerals<\/span> excavated at the site; (v) any impoundment, retention dam, tailing pond, or waste area appurtenant to the excavation of minerals<\/span> from the site; (vi) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property, on the surface or underground, used in, or to be used in, the excavation of minerals<\/span> from the site; (vii) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (viii) any area used to prepare a site for underground mineral excavation activities. A site commences being an underground mineral mine<\/span> upon the beginning of any site preparation activity other than exploratory drilling or other exploration activity and ceases to be an underground mineral mine<\/span> upon completion of initial reclamation activities.\n\t\t“Work area,” as used in Chapter 9 (\u00a7 45.2-900<\/a> et seq.), means an area of a mine in production or being prepared for production or an area of a mine that may pose a danger to miners<\/span> at such area in production or being prepared for production.\n\t\t“Working face<\/span>” means any place in a mine in which work of extracting minerals<\/span> from their natural deposit in the earth is performed during the mining cycle.\n\t\t“Working place<\/span>” means the area of an underground mine inby the last open crosscut.\n\t\t“Working section<\/span>” means the portion of a mine encompassing all areas from the loading point of a section to and including the working faces<\/span>.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nDEFINITIONS (\u00a7 45.2-1101)\n\nAs used in the Mineral Mine Safety Act and in regulations adopted under the Act,\nunless the context requires a different meaning:\n\t\t“Abandoned area” means the inaccessible area of an underground\nmine that is sealed or ventilated and in which further mining is not intended.\n\t\t“Accident” means (i) a death of an individual at a mine; (ii) a\nserious personal injury; (iii) an entrapment of an individual for more than 30\nminutes; (iv) an unplanned inundation of a mine by liquid or gas; (v) an\nunplanned ignition or explosion of gas or dust; (vi) an unplanned mine fire not\nextinguished within 30 minutes of discovery; (vii) an unplanned ignition or\nexplosion of a blasting agent or an explosive; (viii) an unplanned roof fall at\nor above the anchorage zone in active workings where roof bolts are in use, or\nan unplanned roof or rib fall in active workings that impairs ventilation or\nimpedes passage; (ix) a rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners or that\ndisrupts regular mining activity for more than one hour; (x) an unstable\ncondition at a water or silt retaining dam or mine refuse pile that requires\nemergency action in order to prevent failure or causes individuals to evacuate\nan area, or failure of such retaining dam or refuse pile; (xi) damage to\nhoisting equipment in a shaft or slope that endangers an individual or\ninterferes with use of the equipment for more than 30 minutes; and (xii) an\nevent at a mine that causes death or serious personal injury to any individual\nnot at a mine at the time the event occurs.\n\t\t“Active area” means any place in a mine that is ventilated, if\nunderground, and examined regularly.\n\t\t“Active workings” means any place in a mine where miners are\nnormally required to work or travel.\n\t\t“Agent” means any person charged by the operator with\nresponsibility for the operation of all or a part of a mine or the supervision\nof miners in a mine.\n\t\t“Approved” means, with reference to a device, apparatus,\nequipment, condition, method, course, or practice, approved in writing by the\nDirector.\n\t\t“Approved competent person” means a person with more than two\nyears of experience designated by the Department as having the authority to\nfunction as a mine foreman even though the person has less than five years of\nexperience. If an approved competent person meets all the criteria for\ncertification as a mine foreman other than the experience criteria, he may\nperform the duties of a mine foreman except the pre-shift examination.\n\t\t“Armored cable” means a cable provided with a wrapping of metal,\nplastic, or other approved material.\n\t\t“Authorized person” means a person who is assigned by the operator\nor agent to perform a specific type of duty or to be at a specific location in\nthe mine and is task-trained in accordance with requirements of the federal mine\nsafety law.\n\t\t“Blower fan” means a fan with tubing used to direct part of a\nparticular circuit of air to a working place.\n\t\t“Booster fan” means an underground fan installed in conjunction\nwith a main fan to increase the volume of air in one or more circuits.\n\t\t“Cable” means (i) a stranded conductor, known as single-conductor\ncable, or (ii) a combination of conductors insulated from one another, known as\nmultiple-conductor cable.\n\t\t“Certified person” means a person who holds a valid certificate\nfrom the Department authorizing him to perform the particular task to which he\nis assigned.\n\t\t“Circuit” means a conducting part or a system of conducting parts\nthrough which an electric current is intended to flow.\n\t\t“Circuit breaker” means a device for interrupting a circuit\nbetween separable contacts under normal or abnormal conditions.\n\t\t“Competent person” means a person having abilities and experience\nthat fully qualify him to perform the particular duty to which he is assigned.\n\t\t“Cross entry” means any entry or set of entries, turned from main\nentries, from which room entries are turned.\n\t\t“Division” means the Division of Mineral Mining.\n\t\t“Experienced surface miner” means a person with more than six\nmonths of experience working at a surface mine or the surface area of an\nunderground mine.\n\t\t“Experienced underground miner” means a person with more than six\nmonths of underground mining experience.\n\t\t“Federal mine safety law” means the Federal Mine Safety and Health\nAct of 1977 (P.L. 91-173, as amended by P.L. 95-164) and regulations adopted\nthereunder.\n\t\t“Fuse” means an overcurrent protective device with a\ncircuit-opening fusible member directly heated and destroyed by the passage of\novercurrent through it.\n\t\t“Ground” means a conducting connection between an electric circuit\nor electrical equipment and earth or some conducting body that serves in place\nof earth.\n\t\t“Grounded” means connected to earth or to some connecting body\nthat serves in place of earth.\n\t\t“Hazardous condition” means a condition that is likely to cause\ndeath or serious personal injury to a person exposed to such condition.\n\t\t“Imminent danger” means the existence of any condition or practice\nin a mine that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious personal\ninjury before such condition or practice can be abated.\n\t\t“Inactive mine” means a mine (i) at which (a) coal or minerals\nhave not been excavated or processed or (b) work, other than examination by a\ncertified person or emergency work to preserve the mine, has not been performed\nfor a period of 30 days at an underground mine or for a period of 60 days at a\nsurface mine; (ii) for which a valid license is in effect; and (iii) at which\nreclamation activities have not been completed.\n\t\t“Independent contractor” means any person who contracts to perform\nservices or construction at a mine.\n\t\t“Intake air” means air that has not passed through the last active\nworking place of the split or by the unsealed entrance to an abandoned area and\nby analysis contains at least 19.5 percent oxygen and not more than 0.5 percent\ncarbon dioxide and does not contain a hazardous quantity of flammable gas or a\nharmful quantity of poisonous gas.\n\t\t“Interested persons” means members of the mine safety committee\nand other duly authorized representatives of the employees at a mine, MSHA\nemployees, mine inspectors, and, to the extent required by the Act, any other\nperson.\n\t\t“Licensed operator” means the operator who has obtained the\nlicense for a particular mine under \u00a7 45.2-1124.\n\t\t“Main entry” means the principal entry or set of entries driven\nthrough the coal bed or mineral deposit and from which cross entries, room\nentries, or rooms are turned.\n\t\t“Mine” means any underground mineral mine or surface mineral mine.\nMines that are adjacent to each other and under the same management and that are\nadministered as distinct units are considered separate mines. A site is not\nconsidered a mine unless the mineral extracted or excavated from it is offered\nfor sale or exchange or used for any other commercial purpose.\n\t\t“Mine fire” means an unplanned fire not extinguished within 30\nminutes of discovery.\n\t\t“Mine foreman” means a person who holds a valid certificate of\nqualification as a foreman issued by the Department.\n\t\t“Mine inspector” means a public employee assigned by the Director\nto make mine inspections as required by the Mineral Mine Safety Act or other\napplicable law.\n\t\t“Miner” means any individual working in a mineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral” means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous or\nnonmetalliferous ore, or any other solid material or substance of commercial\nvalue excavated in solid form from a natural deposit on or in the earth,\nexclusive of coal and any mineral that occurs naturally in liquid or gaseous\nform.\n\t\t“Mineral mine” means a surface mineral mine or an underground\nmineral mine.\n\t\t“Mineral Mine Safety Act” or “the Act” means this\nchapter and Chapters 14 (\u00a7 45.2-1400 et seq.) and 15 (\u00a7 45.2-1500 et seq.) and\nincludes any regulations adopted thereunder, where applicable.\n\t\t“Mine Safety and Health Administration” or “MSHA”\nmeans the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.\n\t\t“Operator” means any person who operates, controls, or supervises\na mine or any independent contractor performing services or construction at a\nmine.\n\t\t“Panel entry” means a room entry.\n\t\t“Permissible” means any device, process, equipment, or method\nclassified at any time as permissible by MSHA, when such classification is\nadopted by the Director. “Permissible” includes, unless otherwise\nherein expressly stated, any requirement, restriction, exception, limitation, or\ncondition attached to such classification by MSHA.\n\t\t“Return air” means air that has passed through (i) the last active\nworking place on each split or (ii) an abandoned or worked-out area. No area\nwithin a panel shall be deemed abandoned until it is inaccessible or sealed.\n\t\t“Room entry” means any entry or set of entries from which a room\nis turned.\n\t\t“Serious personal injury” means any injury that (i) has a\nreasonable potential to cause death or (ii) is other than a sprain or strain and\nrequires an admission to a hospital for 24 hours or more for medical treatment.\n\t\t“Substation” means an electrical installation containing\ngenerating or power-conversion equipment and associated electric equipment and\nparts, such as switchboards, switches, wiring, fuses, circuit breakers,\ncompensators, and transformers.\n\t\t“Surface mineral mine” means (i) the pit and any other active or\ninactive area of surface extraction of minerals; (ii) any onsite mill, shop,\nloadout facility, or related structure appurtenant to the excavation and\nprocessing of minerals; (iii) any impoundment, water or silt retaining dam,\ntailing pond, mine refuse pile, or other area appurtenant to the extraction of\nminerals from the site; (iv) any onsite surface area for the transportation or\nstorage of minerals excavated at the site; (v) equipment, machinery, tools, and\nother property used in, or to be used in, the work of extracting minerals from\nthe site; (vi) any private way or road appurtenant to such area; and (vii) any\narea used for surface-disturbing exploration, other than by drilling or seismic\ntesting, or for preparation of a site for surface mineral extraction activity. A\nsite shall commence being a surface mineral mine upon the beginning of any\nsurface-disturbing exploration activity other than exploratory drilling or\nseismic testing and shall cease to be a surface mineral mine upon completion of\ninitial reclamation activities. The surface extraction of a mineral shall not\nconstitute surface mineral mining unless the mineral (a) is extracted for its\nunique or intrinsic characteristics or (b) requires processing prior to its\nintended use.\n\t\tExcavation or grading when conducted solely in aid of onsite farming or\nconstruction shall not constitute a surface mineral mine. Such exemption shall\nnot be construed to limit a landowner in a one-time construction or expansion of\na farm pond for agricultural irrigation or provision of water for livestock to\nbeneficially reuse the soil or sand, provided that such pond construction or\nexpansion project (1) is a one-time activity on that parcel of land, (2) is\ncompleted within one year, (3) results in a pond that is less than three acres\nin total, and (4) has all necessary permits and local approvals in place before\nsuch activity begins.\n\t\t“Travel way” means a passage, walk, or way regularly used and\ndesignated for persons to use in going from one place to another.\n\t\t“Underground mineral mine” means (i) the working face and any\nother active or inactive area of underground excavation of minerals; (ii) any\nunderground travel way, shaft, slope, drift, incline, or tunnel connected to\nsuch area; (iii) any onsite mill, loadout area, shop, or related facility\nappurtenant to the excavation and processing of minerals; (iv) any onsite\nsurface area for the transportation or storage of minerals excavated at the\nsite; (v) any impoundment, retention dam, tailing pond, or waste area\nappurtenant to the excavation of minerals from the site; (vi) equipment,\nmachinery, tools, and other property, on the surface or underground, used in, or\nto be used in, the excavation of minerals from the site; (vii) any private way\nor road appurtenant to such area; and (viii) any area used to prepare a site for\nunderground mineral excavation activities. A site commences being an underground\nmineral mine upon the beginning of any site preparation activity other than\nexploratory drilling or other exploration activity and ceases to be an\nunderground mineral mine upon completion of initial reclamation activities.\n\t\t“Work area,” as used in Chapter 9 (\u00a7 45.2-900 et seq.), means an\narea of a mine in production or being prepared for production or an area of a\nmine that may pose a danger to miners at such area in production or being\nprepared for production.\n\t\t“Working face” means any place in a mine in which work of\nextracting minerals from their natural deposit in the earth is performed during\nthe mining cycle.\n\t\t“Working place” means the area of an underground mine inby the\nlast open crosscut.\n\t\t“Working section” means the portion of a mine encompassing all\nareas from the loading point of a section to and including the working faces.\n\nHISTORY: 1997, c. 390, \u00a7 45.1-161.292:2; 1998, c. 695; 2012, cc. 803, 835;\n2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2025, cc. 390, 405.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}