Bond Forfeiture

DMRM administers a program to reclaim areas where bond has been forfeited on current mine permits. These are areas that have been mined but not reclaimed to current standards by the mine operator.

In this program, DMRM collects the forfeited bond monies from the mine operator or from the operator's surety bond company. DMRM then contracts with a third party to have the areas reclaimed.

In addition to forfeited bond monies, for each ton of coal or mineral mined there is a severance tax collected and deposited into DMRM's accounts to supplement the per-acre bond amount. This money is used when the cost to reclaim exceeds the amount of monies forfeited for a particular operation.

Bond rates for the coal regulatory program are $2,500/acre and industrial minerals bond rates are $500/acre. The average cost of reclamation since 2000 has been $8,736/acre.

In 2010, the Forfeiture Program completed the design of eight projects. As of August, 2010, construction had been completed on five forfeited permit sites with eight sites remaining under construction. Construction on one of the eight sites (IM-0652) will continue into 2011. Total cost of construction in 2010 is approximately $1,732,940 and results in the reclamation of 328 acres of land.

With the completion of the projects in 2010-2011, the division will have achieved reclamation of all historical coal forfeiture sites. Approximately twenty-one (21) non-coal or industrial minerals forfeitures remain to be completed after 2010.