New Mexico Administrative Code

New Mexico Mining Safety Board.

The state mine inspector, after consultation with the mining safety board, may impose fees for examination and certification of officials. Current fees will be posted with examination notice given out as required in Subsection C of 19.6.4.9 NMAC.

A. Certification of officials shall be issued for a period of five years. All officials certified by the state mine inspector prior to June 15, 2007 shall have their certification period extended five years. Each official is required to have retraining as a qualified/certified pe…

A. The inspector may refuse to certify or recertify or may suspend or revoke any certification held or applied for under 19.6.4 NMAC upon grounds that the applicant or certified person: (1) gave false or forged evidence to the inspector to obtain certification; (2) is grossly neg…

An appeal of an inspector's action may be made to the board by the person affected by the action. A. A person affected by the inspector's action shall file a written petition for review of the action within twenty days after service of the action. Unless a timely written appeal f…

In the event the position of the state mine inspector is vacant, or during an extended absence of the state mine inspector, in order to provide timely certification and prevent a lapse between recertification of coal mine officials, the certification and recertification, or refus…

All persons subject to NMSA 1978, Article 14, Qualifications and Duties of Coal Mine Officials.

Section 69-5-1 et seq., Section 69-8-1 et seq., and Section 69-14-1 et seq., NMSA 1978.

Permanent.

May 3, 2022, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.

The objective of 19.6.4 NMAC is to establish rules pertaining to the certification of coal mine officials. Officials include, but are not limited to, mine examiners, underground mine foreman and surface mine foreman. Officials must obtain certification from the state mine inspect…

A. "Board" means the state mining safety board. B. "Certificate" means a document issued by the state mine inspector, or certifying agency from another state, allowing the holder to be employed as a coal mine official in the state of origin. C. "CFR" means Code of Federal Regulat…

The state mine inspector shall certify, recertify or discipline persons to act as mine foremen and mine examiners. No mine operator shall employ any person as underground mine foreman, mine examiner or surface mine foreman unless that person has been certified by the state mine i…

A. The state mine inspector may recognize the foreman's or mine examiner's certificate issued by another state and issue certificates accordingly when: (1) the state mine inspector reviews the certification requirements of another state and determines that the requirements are eq…

Mining Safety Board.

All owners, employees and visitors of mining operations in New Mexico, utilizing hoist to access underground mining operations.

Section 69-8-4 NMSA 1978.

Permanent.

06/01/08, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.

Maintain a system of uniform hoist signals for all underground mines.

[RESERVED]

The following signal code shall be used in all mines: A. 1 bell, stop immediately if in motion; 1-2-1 bells, hoist muck; 2-1-2 bells, release cage, skip or bucket; 2 bells, lower; 3-1 bells, hoist persons; 3-2 bells, lower persons, if bells rung slowly move slowly; 7 bells, dange…

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department

The operator shall fill out a change of registration form (form 2) at least 10 days prior to any change in ownership, operator name, mine name, address or operational status, or at least 10 days prior to a reactivation of operations that have been in suspension. change of registr…

The operator shall fill out a notice of intention to suspend operations form (form 12) prior to any temporary or permanent suspension of operations. Notice of intention to suspend operations forms are available from the director.

Written notice of non-compliance may be issued by the director and sent by certified mail to the operator. The operator shall submit a written response to the director within ten (10) days of certified mail receipt of the notice of non-compliance. Failure to respond in writing to…

These rules and regulations shall apply to all mining operations.

The secretary of the department is generally authorized to make and adopt rules and regulations necessary to carry out the duties of the department at Section 9-1-5 E NMSA 1978. The general duties and purposes of the mining and minerals division are set out at Section 9-5A-4 D NM…

Permanent.

October 14, 1995. [unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.]

The following rules have been adopted by the secretary of the New Mexico energy, minerals and natural resources department to provide for the registration, annual reporting and change in registration of mines, mills and smelters.

A. "Construction" means any on-site activity directly related to the development of a new mine site not yet registered, including shaft sinking, tunneling, excavation, building of surface facilities and road building. B. "Department" means the energy, minerals and natural resourc…

Before the start of any operations an operator shall register such mine with the division on a mine registration form (form 1). The registration shall be accompanied by an accurate plat or standard USGS topographic map sheet showing the location of the proposed mine with referenc…

Before April 30 of every year, each mining, milling or smelting operation shall furnish to the division a report, on the appropriate form designated for that type of operation and commodity (forms 3-11) provided by the division, information including the following: name, address …

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

The director and his agents shall have right of entry to mines for the purpose of determining compliance with the rules and regulations for the effective safeguarding of surface mine openings.

If upon inspection or the investigation of a complaint by any affected party the director determines that there is a violation of statutes, rules and regulations applicable to safeguarding mine surface openings and a party responsible for such safeguarding can be identified, the …

If the director determines that an immediate danger to public health and safety exists due to the lack of or ineffective safeguarding of mine surface openings, the director may take appropriate actions necessary to effectively safeguard the mine and recover reasonable costs for s…

The director from time to time may issue interpretative memoranda which discuss the type of safeguarding techniques that may be used. Varying types of mine openings, the likelihood of reopening the mine, the proximity to populated areas and other relevant factors will be consider…

These rules and regulations shall apply to all mining operations with surface mine openings including shafts, adits, highwalls and auger boreholes where operations are suspended permanently (abandoned), or for a temporary period of time when an office with a responsible person is…

The secretary of the department is generally authorized to make and adopt rules and regulations necessary to carry out the duties of the department at Section 9-1-5 E NMSA 1978. The general duties and purposes of the mining and minerals division are set out at Section 9-5A-4 D NM…

Permanent.

October 14, 1995 [unless a later date is cited at the end of a section]

The following rules and regulations have been adopted by the secretary of the New Mexico energy, minerals and natural resources department to provide for the protection of public health and safety through the effective safeguarding of mine surface openings when mining operations …

A. "Abandoned" means the permanent cessation of mining operations or the temporary cessation when no office with a responsible person is maintained at the site at all times and access to the mine is controlled. B. "Director" means the director of the mining and minerals division.…

A. Prior to either the permanent suspension of mining operations or the temporary suspension of mining operations when an office with a responsible person present at all times is not maintained at the site, on which are located mine surface openings including shafts, adits, highw…

If the director disapproved the proposed plan because it does not effectively safeguard surface mine openings, the director shall indicate in writing the reason therefor. The operator shall then submit an amended safeguarding plan.