As used in the Copper Production Ad Valorem Tax Act:

A. "average price" means for any mineral the average price for the appropriate period determined from published price data in the manner specified by regulation;

B. "copper mineral property" means all mineral property and property held in connection with mineral property when seventy-five percent or more, by either weight or value, of the salable mineral produced from or by the mineral property is copper;

C. "copper production ad valorem tax" means the tax imposed by the Copper Production Ad Valorem Tax Act;

D. "department" means, unless the context requires otherwise, the taxation and revenue department, the secretary of taxation and revenue or any employee of the department exercising authority lawfully delegated to that employee by the secretary;

E. "new copper mineral property" means either a copper mineral property that began operations on a commercial basis within the three-year period immediately preceding the tax year for which value is being determined or a copper mineral property that was valued and taxed under the Property Tax Code [Chapter 7, Articles 35 to 38 NMSA 1978] for any tax year subsequent to the 1990 property tax year within the three-year period immediately preceding the tax year for which value is being determined;

F. "produced" means the altered form, character or condition of a mineral that is the product of a particular process;

G. "taxable value" means the value of property determined by applying the tax ratio to the valuation of the copper mineral property determined for purposes of the Copper Production Ad Valorem Tax Act;

H. "tax ratio" means the percentage established under the Property Tax Code that is applied to the value of property determined for property taxation purposes to derive taxable value, as that term is defined in the Property Tax Code; and

I. "value of salable copper and other minerals" means:

(1) for new copper mineral properties, the sum, for copper and each other mineral produced, of the product of the salable amount of the mineral produced during the interval beginning with the month in which operations on a commercial basis began or recommenced and ending with the last month of production preceding the tax year for which valuation is being determined; multiplied by the normalization factor which is a fraction, the numerator of which is twelve and the denominator of which is the number of months within the interval beginning with the month in which operations on a commercial basis began or recommenced and ending with the last month of production preceding the tax year for which valuation is being determined; further multiplied by the average price for the interval beginning with the month in which operations on a commercial basis began or recommenced and ending with the last month of production preceding the tax year for which valuation is being determined; and

(2) for all other copper mineral properties the sum, for copper and each other mineral produced, of the product of the quotient of the salable amount of the mineral produced during the three calendar years immediately preceding the year for which valuation is being determined divided by three; multiplied by the average price for the three-year period.

History: 1978 Comp., § 7-39-2, enacted by Laws 1990, ch. 125, § 9.