Each applicant for a certificate of exploration, and each applicant for an operating permit, shall file with the department, upon approval of the application, and maintain in force a bond in an amount set forth in this section. All bonds must be in favor of the State of South Carolina, executed by a surety approved by the Department of Insurance in the amount set forth in this section. The bond must be continuous in nature and must remain in force until canceled by the surety. Cancellation by the surety is effectuated only upon sixty days' written notice to the department and to the operator.

The applicant may file a separate bond for each certificate of exploration or operating permit or may file a blanket bond covering all exploration activities or mining operations within the State for which he holds certificates or permits. The amount of each bond required for a certificate of exploration must be two thousand, five hundred dollars. The amount of each bond for operating permits must be based upon the area of affected land to be reclaimed under the approved reclamation plan to which it pertains, less any area whose reclamation has been completed and released from coverage by the department pursuant to Section 48-20-130. If the area totals less than ten acres, the bond must be ten thousand dollars. If it is ten acres or more but less than fifteen acres, the bond must be fifteen thousand dollars. If it is fifteen or more acres the bond must be twenty-five thousand dollars. If an area totals more than twenty-five acres, the department may require a bond in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars if a greater bond is necessary to insure reclamation as provided by this chapter.

All mining operations must have the reclamation bond amounts in effect by July 1, 1995, or before if the mining permit is modified to increase the affected land.

The bond must be conditioned upon the faithful performance of the requirements set forth in this chapter and of the regulations adopted pursuant to it. Liability under the bond must be maintained as long as reclamation is not completed in compliance with the approved reclamation plan unless released only upon written notification from the department. Notification must be given upon completion of compliance or acceptance by the department of a substitute bond. In no event may the liability of the surety exceed the amount of surety bond required by this section.

In lieu of the surety bond required by this section, the explorer or operator may file with the department a cash deposit, registered securities acceptable to the department, an assignment of a savings account in a South Carolina bank, or other securities acceptable to the department on an assignment form prescribed by the department.

If the license to do business in South Carolina of a surety upon a bond filed pursuant to this chapter is suspended or revoked, the operator, within sixty days after receiving notice, shall substitute for the surety a good and sufficient corporate surety authorized to do business in this State or file with the department one of the alternative forms of surety prescribed in this section. Upon failure of the operator to make the substitution, the permit must be suspended until the substitute bond is posted and written documentation is provided to the department.

HISTORY: 1990 Act No. 454, Section 2; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1222.