(1) Upon receipt of an application for a permit and all fees due from the operator, the board or the office shall set a date for the consideration of such application not more than ninety days after the date of filing. At that time, the board or the office shall approve or deny the application or, for good cause shown, refer the application for a hearing to determine whether a permit should be granted.

(2) Prior to holding a hearing, the board or the office shall provide notice to any person who filed a protest or petition for a hearing or statement in support of an application pursuant to section 34-32.5-114. Notice of the time, date, and location of the hearing shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the proposed mining operation once a week for the two consecutive weeks immediately preceding the hearing. The hearing shall be conducted pursuant to article 4 of title 24, C.R.S. A final decision on the application shall be made within one hundred twenty days after the receipt of the application. In the event of complex applications, serious unforeseen circumstances, or significant snow cover on the affected land that prevents a necessary on-site inspection, the board may reasonably extend the time in which a final decision must be made by sixty days.

(3) If action upon an application is not completed within the period specified in subsection (2) of this section, the permit shall be considered to be approved and shall be promptly issued upon presentation by the applicant of a financial warranty in the amount of two thousand dollars per acre affected or such other amount as determined by the board.

(4) In the determination of whether the board or the office shall grant a permit to an operator, the applicant must comply with the requirements of this article and section 24-4-105 (7), C.R.S. The board or office shall not deny a permit except on one or more of the following grounds:

(a) The application is incomplete and the performance and financial warranties have not been provided.

(b) The applicant has not paid the required fee.

(c) Any part of the proposed mining operation, the reclamation program, or the proposed future use is contrary to the laws or regulations of this article.

(d) The proposed mining operation, the reclamation program, or the proposed future use is contrary to the laws or regulations of this state or the United States, including but not limited to all federal, state, and local permits, licenses, and approvals, as applicable to the specific operation.

(e) The mining operation will adversely affect the stability of any significant, valuable, and permanent manmade structures located within two hundred feet of the affected land; except that the permit shall not be denied on this basis where there is an agreement between the operator and the persons having an interest in the structure that damage to the structure is to be compensated for by the operator or, where such an agreement cannot be reached, the applicant provides an appropriate engineering evaluation that demonstrates that such structures shall not be damaged by proposed construction materials excavation operations.

(f) The mining operation is located upon lands:

(I) Where mining operations are prohibited by law or regulation within the boundaries of units of the national park system, the national wildlife refuge system, the national system of trails, the national wilderness preservation system, the wild and scenic rivers system, or national recreation areas;

(II) Which are within or without the boundaries of, and are owned, leased, or have been developed by, any recreational facility established pursuant to article 7 of title 29, C.R.S., unless otherwise authorized by the appropriate governing body or unless the operation will not create any surface disturbance therein;

(III) Which are within the boundaries of, and are owned, leased, or have been developed by, any park and recreation district established pursuant to article 1 of title 32, C.R.S., unless otherwise authorized by the board of directors of the district or unless the operation will not create any surface disturbance therein; and

(IV) Which are within the boundaries of any unit of the state park system or any state recreational area in which the entire fee estate is owned by the state of Colorado, unless the mining operation is approved jointly by the board, by the governor, and by the parks and wildlife commission or unless the operation will not create any surface disturbance therein.

(g) The proposed reclamation plan does not conform to the requirements of section 34-32.5-116.