Chapter NR 131

NR 131.102 NR 131.102 Applicability.

NR 131.102(1) (1) The provisions of this chapter are applicable to all nonferrous metallic mineral prospecting, including the storage, handling, processing, transportation, and disposal of all materials resulting from a prospecting operation except to the extent that mining wastes are regulated under ch. NR 182.

NR 131.102(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 prospecting 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 131.102 History History: CR 20-043: cr. Register December 2021 No. 792, eff. 1-1-22; correction in (2) made under s. 35.17, Stats., Register December 2021 No. 792.

NR 131.103 NR 131.103 Definitions. In this chapter:

NR 131.103(1) (1) “Applicant” means a person who has applied for a prospecting permit.

NR 131.103(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 131.103(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 131.105 and 131.117, and s. 293.31, Stats., as representing the existing environmental conditions prior to the commencement of prospecting and established by monitoring at the proposed site, upgradient and downgradient of the proposed site and at representative reference sites, as necessary.

NR 131.103(4) (4) “Department” means the department of natural resources.

NR 131.103(5) (5) “Environmental pollution” has the meaning specified in s. 293.01 (4), Stats.

NR 131.103(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 131.103(7) (7) “Materials” means all solid, liquid and gaseous, substances handled, processed, transported, stored or disposed of on the prospecting site during prospecting and reclamation operations, including other substances generated by the operation as well as those brought onto the prospecting site.

NR 131.103(8) (8) 

NR 131.103(8)(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 131.103(8)(b) (b) “Mining waste” includes tailings, waste rock, mine overburden, and waste treatment sludges.

NR 131.103(8)(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 this chapter or ch. NR 132, to be returned to the mine site or used in the reclamation process, and does not include merchantable by-products.

NR 131.103(8)(d) (d) “Mining waste” does not include trees and other vegetation removed from the mining site during site preparation and facility construction.

NR 131.103(9) (9) “Monitoring data” means the data collected by the operator or the department after the commencement of prospecting.

NR 131.103(10) (10) “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.

NR 131.103 Note Note: This definition does not apply to substances mined primarily for their iron oxide content. This definition includes substances mined for the purpose of extracting a metal or metals such as copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver, titanium, vanadium, nickel, cadmium, molybdenum, chromium, manganese, cobalt, zirconium, beryllium, thorium, and uranium.

NR 131.103(11) (11) “Non-mining solid waste” means solid waste generated as part of a nonferrous prospecting or mining operation that is not mining waste and includes materials such as discarded vegetation, tires, barrels, sanitary waste, and various other solid waste materials defined in ch. NR 500, including construction and demolition waste, garbage, commercial solid waste and municipal solid waste.

NR 131.103(12) (12) “Operator” means any person who is engaged in, or who has applied for or holds a permit to engage in prospecting, whether individually, jointly or through subsidiaries, agents, employees or contractors.

NR 131.103(13) (13) “Ore” means a naturally occurring material from which nonferrous metallic minerals may be recovered at a profit.

NR 131.103(14) (14) “Overburden” means any unconsolidated geologic material, such as till, sand and gravel, and weathered bedrock that may be removed during prospecting or mining.

NR 131.103(15) (15) “Person” means an individual, owner, operator, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, municipality, interstate agency, state agency, or federal agency.

NR 131.103(16) (16) “Principal shareholder” means any person who owns at least 10 percent of the beneficial ownership of an operator.

NR 131.103(17) (17) “Prospecting” has the meaning specified s. 293.01 (18), Stats.

NR 131.103 Note Note: Section 293.01 (18), Stats., defines “prospecting” to mean: “engaging in the examination of an area for the purpose of determining the quality and quantity of nonferrous metallic minerals, other than for exploration or bulk sampling 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 or bulk sampling, 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.”

NR 131.103(18) (18) “Prospecting permit” means the permit which is required of all persons as a condition precedent to commencing prospecting at a location.

NR 131.103(19) (19) “Prospecting plan” means the proposal for prospecting of the prospecting site.

NR 131.103(20) (20) “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 including a mining waste facility, if one is needed, corridors for access roads and other activities related to the prospecting operation but does not include environmental monitoring sites located off of the main portion of the prospecting site.

NR 131.103(21) (21) “Prospector” means any person engaged in prospecting.

NR 131.103(22) (22) “Reclamation” means the process by which an area physically or environmentally affected by prospecting 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), Stats.

NR 131.103(23) (23) “Reclamation plan” means the proposal for the reclamation of the prospecting site that must be approved by the department under s. 293.45, Stats., as part of the prospecting permit, and includes the closure requirements of ch. NR 182 for facilities licensed under that chapter, if any.

NR 131.103(24) (24) “Refuse” means all waste soil, overburden, rock, mineral, liquid, vegetation, and other material, directly resulting from or displaced by the prospecting, and from the cleaning or preparation of nonferrous metallic minerals during prospecting operations, including all waste materials deposited on or in the prospecting site from other sources.

NR 131.103(25) (25) “Unsuitable” or “unsuitability” means that the land proposed for prospecting is not suitable for such activity because the prospecting activity itself may reasonably be expected to destroy or irreparably damage any of the following:

NR 131.103(25)(a) (a) Habitat required for survival of species of vegetation or wildlife as designated in ch. NR 27, if such endangered species cannot be firmly reestablished elsewhere.

NR 131.103(25)(b) (b) Unique features of the land, as determined by state or federal designation as any of the following, that cannot have their unique characteristic preserved by relocation or replacement elsewhere:

NR 131.103(25)(b)1. 1. Wilderness areas designated by statute or administrative rule.

NR 131.103(25)(b)2. 2. Wild and scenic rivers designated by statute or administrative rule.

NR 131.103(25)(b)3. 3. National or state parks designated by statute or administrative rule.

NR 131.103(25)(b)4. 4. Wildlife refuges and areas designated by statute or administrative rule.

NR 131.103(25)(b)5. 5. Properties of historical significance identified as listed properties under s. 44.31 (4), Stats., and archaeological sites, as defined in s. 44.47 (1) (b), Stats.

NR 131.103(25)(b)6. 6. State natural areas designated under s. 23.28, Stats.

NR 131.103(25)(c) (c) Other areas of a type designated by statute or administrative rule as unique or unsuitable for prospecting or surface mining.

NR 131.103(26) (26) “Waste rock” means consolidated geologic material that has been excavated during the prospecting process but is not of sufficient value to constitute ore.

NR 131.103(27) (27) “Wetlands” means an area where water is at, near or above the land surface long enough to be capable of supporting aquatic or hydrophytic vegetation and which has soils indicative of wet conditions.

NR 131.103 History History: CR 20-043: cr. Register December 2021 No. 792, eff. 1-1-22; correction in (4), (25) (b) 5., made under s. 35.17, Stats., and correction in (17) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register December 2021 No. 792.

NR 131.104 NR 131.104 Environmental baseline data collection prior to preapplication notification.

NR 131.104(1) (1) A person who intends to submit a preapplication notification under s. 293.31, Stats., may, prior to obtaining, collecting, or generating environmental baseline data intended to be used to support a prospecting permit application, submit to the department a description of the methodology that the person intends to use in obtaining, collecting, or generating the data. The description shall include all of the following:

NR 131.104(1)(a) (a) The sampling equipment and instrumentation.

NR 131.104(1)(b) (b) The sampling locations.

NR 131.104(1)(c) (c) The sample collection protocols.

NR 131.104(1)(d) (d) The sampling schedules.

NR 131.104(1)(e) (e) The analytical methods and reporting procedures.

NR 131.104(2) (2) Information submitted under sub. (1), shall be submitted in a format prescribed by the department, including a complete electronic version and duplicate reproducible paper copies of the information in a quantity specified by the department.

NR 131.104(3) (3) Any request under sub. (1) for department review of proposed environmental data collection methodology shall be accompanied by a fee of $1,500. The department may waive the fee if the requested review is of limited scope or is substantively duplicative of previous requests.

NR 131.104(4) (4) 

NR 131.104(4)(a) (a) The department shall review the proposed methodology and shall either inform the person that the proposed methodology is accepted by the department or provide the person with the methodology that the department requires the person to use.

NR 131.104(4)(b) (b) The review conducted by the department under this subsection is limited specifically to the proposed methodology for data collection and analysis. Department approval of the methodology is not an endorsement or approval of the intended data collection program, including adequacy of the scope of the data collection program and appropriateness of sampling locations and analytical parameters.

NR 131.104(4)(c) (c) In approving the proposed methodology under this subsection, the department may require the person to provide notice to the department prior to specific data collection activities to facilitate verification of data collection by department staff, as necessary.

NR 131.104(5) (5) If a person obtains, collects, or generates data or information intended to be used to support a prospecting permit application without obtaining department approval of the person’s methodology under sub. (4), the department may not exclude any of the data or information that consists of general environmental information such as soil characteristics, hydrologic conditions, and air and water data contained in publications, maps, documents, studies, reports, and similar sources, whether public or private, not prepared by or for the applicant.

NR 131.104(6) (6) If the period of data collection prior to the filing of a preapplication notice under s. NR 131.105 continues for longer than 12 months, the department may require the person to enter into a pre-application services agreement with the department under s. 23.40 (4), Stats., to cover costs incurred by the department in verifying or reviewing the environmental data.

NR 131.104 History History: CR 20-043: cr. Register December 2021 No. 792, eff. 1-1-22.

NR 131.105 NR 131.105 Preapplication notification and data collection.

NR 131.105(1) (1) At least 12 months before filing an application for a prospecting permit under s. NR 131.107 a person proposing to engage in a prospecting project shall notify the department in writing of the person’s intention to apply for a prospecting permit and submit to the department a project review fee under s. NR 131.106. The person submitting the preapplication notification shall provide the department with a complete electronic version of the notice in a format prescribed by the department and shall provide duplicate paper copies of the notice in a quantity specified by the department. The notice shall include all of the following information:

NR 131.105(1)(a) (a) The name, address, and telephone number of the person submitting the preapplication notification.

NR 131.105(1)(b) (b) A map showing the approximate location of the prospecting site including anticipated project boundaries, locations of surface waters, roads, railroads, pipelines and utilities within the project area and identification of property ownership of lands included in the project site and adjacent areas.

NR 131.105(1)(c) (c) The expected date when a prospecting permit application may be submitted under s. NR 131.107.

NR 131.105(1)(d) (d) A preliminary project description that includes all of the following:

NR 131.105(1)(d)1. 1. A topographic map showing the location of the prospecting operation and preliminary location of project facilities.

NR 131.105(1)(d)2. 2. A general description of the nonferrous metallic mineral deposit including available details on size, shape, and orientation, faulting and fracturing systems and patterns, origin, lithology, and mineralogic composition, including approximate metal grades and content.

NR 131.105(1)(d)3. 3. A discussion of the anticipated prospecting methods.

NR 131.105(1)(d)4. 4. A general description of the wastes expected to be generated.

NR 131.105(1)(d)5. 5. The potential locations of anticipated mining waste facilities, if any.

NR 131.105(1)(d)6. 6. The following information pertaining to potential prospecting sites:

NR 131.105(1)(d)6.a. a. A discussion of land uses at the proposed prospecting site and the surrounding area which may have an impact on the suitability of the property as a prospecting site or on groundwater quality.

NR 131.105(1)(d)6.b. b. A discussion of land use zoning, with particular attention given to areas where zoning variances will be required, where agricultural impact statements may be required, or where floodplain, conservancy, shoreland or wetland zoning is designated.

NR 131.105(1)(d)6.c. c. Identification of known recreational, historical, archaeological areas, areas that contain threatened or endangered species per s. 29.604, Stats., and ch. NR 27, state or local natural areas and county forest lands.

NR 131.105(1)(d)6.d. d. A discussion of the regional setting of the proposed prospecting site generally documented by currently available public information addressing the topography, surface hydrology including the presence of any resources designated as areas of special natural resources interest under s. 30.01 (1am), Stats., geology, and hydrogeology of the area surrounding the potential prospecting site.

NR 131.105(1)(d)7. 7. An estimate of the project schedule.

NR 131.105(1)(e) (e) A proposed scope of study that includes all of the following:

NR 131.105(1)(e)1. 1. Identification of data requirements needed for preparation of the prospecting permit application, and, as applicable, environmental impact report, mining waste site feasibility report, and plan of operation and other applications for permits, licenses, and approvals issued by the department.

NR 131.105(1)(e)2. 2. Specific methodologies to be utilized in data collection, data processing and synthesis, laboratory methods, and analyses.

NR 131.105(1)(e)3. 3. Description of the format in which the data will be presented in the prospecting permit application and other required submittals.

NR 131.105(1)(e)4. 4. Tentative schedule for collection of field data.

NR 131.105(1)(e)5. 5. Names, addresses, and qualifications of persons who will be responsible for data collection, laboratory work, and impact analysis. Data shall be submitted under the seal of a licensed professional engineer, geologist or hydrologist registered with or licensed by the Wisconsin department of safety and professional services or other professional with expertise directly applicable to the data.

NR 131.105(1)(e)6. 6. Quality assurance programs employed in obtaining, collecting, generating, and evaluating all baseline data.

NR 131.105(1)(e)7. 7. Identification of any anticipated modeling studies necessary to evaluate the prospecting operation and complete environmental impact assessments.