Chapter NR 132

Register August 2011 No. 668

Chapter NR 132

NONFERROUS METALLIC MINERAL MINING

NR 132.101   Purpose.

NR 132.102   Applicability.

NR 132.103   Definitions.

NR 132.104   Environmental baseline data collection prior to preapplication notification.

NR 132.105   Preapplication notification and data collection.

NR 132.106   Mining project review fee.

NR 132.107   Application to mine.

NR 132.108   Mining plan.

NR 132.109   Reclamation plan.

NR 132.110   Location criteria and environmental standards.

NR 132.111   Minimum design and operation.

NR 132.112   Exemptions and variances.

NR 132.113   Timeline for review of mining permit application.

NR 132.114   Mining permit issuance.

NR 132.115   Mining permit denial.

NR 132.116   Reclamation bond and other financial assurance securities.

NR 132.117   Monitoring.

NR 132.118   Inspections.

NR 132.119   Reporting and mining permit review.

NR 132.120   Mining permit and plan modifications.

NR 132.121   Temporary cessation of mining.

NR 132.122   Certificate of completion of reclamation and reclamation bond release.

NR 132.123   Enforcement.

Ch. NR 132 Note Note: Chapter NR 132 as it existed on August 31, 1982 was repealed and a new chapter NR 132 was created effective September 1, 1982. Chapter NR 132 as it existed on December 31, 2021, was repealed and a new chapter NR 132 was created effective January 1, 2022.

NR 132.101 NR 132.101 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to implement ch. 293, Stats., by establishing procedures and standards for the comprehensive regulation of nonferrous metallic mineral mining in this state and facilitating a coordinated procedure by which department permits, licenses, and approvals may be applied for, hearings may be held, and determinations may be made by the department in an integrated manner.

NR 132.101 History History: CR 20-043: cr. Register December 2021 No. 792, eff. 1-1-22; correction made under s. 35.17, Stats., Register December 2021 No. 792.

NR 132.102 NR 132.102 Applicability.

NR 132.102(1) (1) The provisions of this chapter are applicable to all nonferrous metallic mineral mining, including the storage, handling, processing, transportation, and disposal of all materials resulting from a mining operation except to the extent that mining wastes are regulated under ch. NR 182.

NR 132.102(2) (2) If a standard under any state or federal statute, rule, or regulation other than this chapter specifically regulates in whole an activity or facility on a mining site regulated under this chapter the other state or federal statute, rule, or regulation shall be the controlling standard. If the other state or federal statute, rule, or regulation only specifically regulates the activity or facility in part, the other statute, rule, or regulation shall only be controlling as to that part.

NR 132.102 History History: CR 20-043: cr. Register December 2021 No. 792, eff. 1-1-22.

NR 132.103 NR 132.103 Definitions. In this chapter:

NR 132.103(1) (1) “Applicant” means a person who has applied for a mining permit.

NR 132.103(2) (2) “Background water quality” or “background concentration” means surface water or groundwater quality at or near a facility, practice or activity which has not been affected by that facility, practice or activity, established by monitoring at the proposed site, upgradient and downgradient of the proposed site and at representative reference sites, as necessary.

NR 132.103(3) (3) “Baseline data” means the data collected by the applicant or the department which the department has accepted through the regulatory process of ss. NR 132.105 and 132.117, and s. 293.31, Stats., as representing the existing environmental conditions prior to the commencement of mining and established by monitoring at the proposed site, upgradient and downgradient of the proposed site and at representative reference sites, as necessary.

NR 132.103(4) (4) “Department” means the department of natural resources.

NR 132.103(5) (5) “Environmental pollution” has the meaning specified in s. 293.01 (4), Stats.

NR 132.103 Note Note: Section 293.01 (4), Stats., defines “environmental pollution” to mean: “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.”

NR 132.103(6) (6) “Groundwater” means any waters of the state, as defined in s. 281.01 (18), Stats., occurring in a saturated subsurface geological formation of rock or soil.

NR 132.103(7) (7) “Materials” means all solid, liquid and gaseous, substances handled, processed, transported, stored or disposed of on the mining site during the mining, concentrating and reclamation operation, including merchantable by-product and other substances generated by the operation as well as those brought onto the mining site.

NR 132.103(8) (8) “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 or an exemption has been granted under s. NR 132.112 extending designation of the material as merchantable by-product.

NR 132.103(9) (9) “Mill” means an enclosed facility, such as a concentrator building, where ore is separated into values and rejects, including tailings, and may include facilities and processes for crushing, cleaning, grinding and separating ore minerals through flotation, magnetic separation, leaching or other processes.

NR 132.103(10) (10) “Mining” or “mining operation” means all or part of the process in the mining of nonferrous metallic minerals other than for exploration, bulk sampling or prospecting, and includes commercial extraction, agglomeration, beneficiation, site preparation and clearing, construction of project facilities including roads and other corridors, removal of overburden, and the production of refuse.

NR 132.103(11) (11) “Mining permit” means the permit that is required of all operators as a condition precedent to commencing mining at a mining site as required under s. 293.37 (1) (a), Stats.

NR 132.103(12) (12) “Mining plan” means the proposal for the mining of the mining site which must be approved by the department under s. 293.49, Stats., as part of the mining permit.

NR 132.103(13) (13) 

NR 132.103(13)(a) (a) “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, pipelines and pipeline corridors, and any surface areas in which structures, equipment, materials, and any other things used in the mining operation are situated.

NR 132.103(13)(b) (b) “Mining site” includes but is not limited to all of the following:

NR 132.103(13)(b)1. 1. Facilities required as a condition of a mining permit under s. 293.65 (3) (b), Stats.

NR 132.103(13)(b)2. 2. Corridors for access roads and rail spurs from the location where the corridor connects with the main portion of the mining site extending to the location where it connects with a public road or rail line owned by another entity.

NR 132.103(13)(c) (c) “Mining site” does not include environmental monitoring sites located off of the main portion of the mining site.

NR 132.103(14) (14) 

NR 132.103(14)(a) (a) “Mining waste” or “nonferrous mining waste” means any refuse, sludge, or other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from nonferrous metallic mineral prospecting or mining, or from the cleaning or preparation of nonferrous metallic minerals during prospecting or mining operations.

NR 132.103(14)(b) (b) “Mining waste” includes tailings, waste rock, mine overburden, and waste treatment sludges.

NR 132.103(14)(c) (c) “Mining waste” does not include topsoil and mine overburden not disposed of in a waste site, but placed in a facility permitted under ch. NR 131 or this chapter, to be returned to the mine site or used in the reclamation process, and does not include merchantable by-product.