Idaho State Statutes - Idaho Attorney Directory

(a) Before any person may
conduct a placer or dredge mining operation on lands or natural watercourses
in the state of Idaho, such person shall file with the director an application
for a permit upon a form provided by the director, and shall pay an
application fee of fifty dollars ($50.00), for each ten (10) acres or fraction
thereof above involved in such application, provided that no application fee
shall exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000). Application fees shall be
deposited in the dredge and placer mining account.
(b) The permit to issue in any such case shall be in a form provided and
approved by the board. No such permit shall be issued to any applicant until
the applicant files with the director an initial bond in an amount necessary
to pay the estimated reasonable costs of reclamation required under the permit
for each acre of land to be disturbed during the first season of operation
plus ten percent (10%). The amount of the bond shall not exceed one thousand
eight hundred dollars ($1,800) per acre of disturbed land. At the beginning of
each calendar year or before operations begin, the operator shall notify the
director of any increase or decrease in the acreage of disturbed lands which
will result from planned placer mining activity within the next operating
season. A correlated increase or decrease in the bond shall be required by the
director for a change in disturbed acreage. In the event of failure by the
permittee to reclaim disturbed lands in the permit area, the cost charged to
the permittee shall be reasonable costs of reclamation plus ten percent (10%);
provided that in no event shall any bond submitted pursuant to this section
exceed one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800) for any given acre of
disturbed land. The determination by the board of reclamation costs shall
constitute a final decision subject to judicial review as set forth in
subsection (d) of section 47-1320, Idaho Code. The bond may be submitted in
the form of a surety, cash, certificate of deposit, or other bond acceptable
to the director, provided that any bond shall be in the applicable amount set
forth above.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct placer or dredge
mining operations in this state without first having obtained a permit and
bond as herein provided. The board shall determine whether a permit
application and bond submitted by an applicant satisfies the requirements of
this act and regulations promulgated thereto. Upon such determination, the
board shall notify the applicant in writing of approval or denial of the
permit application and bond. Any notice of rejection shall state the reasons
for such rejection. An applicant may submit an amended permit application and
bond.
(d) It shall be the duty of the board in its administration of this act
to cause periodic inspections to be made of the operations under such permits
to determine compliance with this law and to make rules and regulations with
respect thereto and the cost and expense of making such inspections shall be
borne by the permittee, which such costs and expenses shall constitute a lien
upon equipment, personal property, or real property of the permittee and upon
minerals produced from the permit area, and the failure to pay the amount
thereof on demand by the board shall be cause for termination of the permit.
All inspection fees shall be deposited in the dredge and placer mining
account.
(e) The board may release an applicant from the requirement that the
applicant submit a bond if the director determines that the applicant has
insured faithful performance of the requirements of this act and regulations
promulgated thereto pertinent to land and watercourse restoration by
submitting and having on file a current and valid bond with the United States
government, which bond equals or exceeds the amount set forth above, provided
that such release by the director shall not release an applicant from bonding
under this act, should the permittee fail to continuously maintain a valid
bond with the United States government or from compliance with any other
requirement of this act or regulations promulgated thereto.
(f) Upon determination by the director that restoration has been
satisfactorily completed on a portion of a permit area in accordance with the
applicable approved permit and with subsection (a) of section 47-1314, Idaho
Code, the board may reduce the bond amount to reflect the completed
restoration.
(g) That if any applicant for such dredge or other placer mining
operations as contemplated by this act be not the owner of the lands described
in the application or any part thereof, the owner of such lands shall indorse
his approval of the application, and no permit shall be issued in the absence
of such approval by the owner of lands described in the application not owned
by the applicant.
(h) No permit shall be issued proposing to alter or occupy the bed of a
navigable stream or to dredge any stream or watercourse without notification
to the department of water resources of the pending application. The
department of water resources shall respond to said notification within twenty
(20) days, and the response shall be included in any permit granted hereunder
by a showing whether the permit constitutes a permit from the department of
water resources or whether an additional permit from the department of water
resources shall be required.
(i) No permit shall issue hereunder to dredge nor otherwise placer mine
any lands owned by the state of Idaho, including the beds of navigable
streams, and including the mineral reservations in lands sold by the state,
unless a mineral lease shall be made of such terms and at such royalty to the
state as its board of state land commissioners shall prescribe and determine.
(j) The Idaho state board of land commissioners shall have the power to
deny any application for a permit on state land, stream or river beds, or on
any unpatented mining claims, upon its determination that a dredge mining
operation on the land proposed would not be in the public interest, giving
consideration to economic factors, recreational use for such lands, fish and
wildlife habitat and other factors which in the judgment of the state land
board may be pertinent, and may deny an application upon notification by the
department of water resources that the grant of such permit would result in
permanent damage to a stream channel.
(k) Upon default, in the event that the amount of the bond is
insufficient to reclaim the land in compliance with the act and the approved
plan, the attorney general is empowered to commence legal action against the
operator in the name of the board to recover the amount in excess of the bond
necessary to reclaim the land in compliance with the act and the approved
plan.

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