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 for those permits eligible for and electing to participate in the bond pool in addition to a per ton severance tax, full cost bond for those permits not eligible to participate in the bond pool or opting to provide full cost based on an engineer's estimate of the cost of reclamation.

Industrial minerals bond rates are $500/acre. The average cost of reclamation since 2000 has been $7,921.12/acre for coal forfeiture sites and $8,527.32/acre for industrial minerals forfeiture sites.

With the completion of the projects in 2010, the division achieved reclamation of all historical coal forfeiture sites. Approximately six (6) non-coal or industrial minerals forfeitures remain to be completed after 2012 with another seven (7) pending.