Alaska Administrative Code
Title 11 - Natural Resources
Part 6 - Lands
Chapter 97 - Mining Reclamation
Article 4 - Reclamation Bonding
11 AAC 97.415 - Acreage to be bonded

(a) Acreage that must be bonded before a mining operation begins in any calendar year is limited to any area to be mined during that calendar year, plus any mined area (as that term is defined in 11 AAC 97.990) mined in a previous year for which reclamation must be completed under this chapter; it is not necessarily the same as the entire acreage of the mining operation. For an underground mine, only the surface acreage disturbed by the operation constitutes "mined area" for purposes of the bond requirement.

(b) After a multi-year reclamation plan goes into effect, the miner shall ensure that the bond amount is sufficient at all times to cover any area to be mined during the current calendar year, plus any area mined in a previous year that has not yet been reclaimed.

(c) Any previously reclaimed area that is to be mined again is subject to the bond requirement in the year that mining resumes and until it is reclaimed.

(d) In calculating the number of acres that must be bonded, a miner must round up to the next whole number.