A. The licensed operator of every mine or his agent shall annually, by February 15, mail or deliver to the Department a report for the preceding twelve months, ending with December 31. Such report shall state: (i) the names of the licensed operator, any agent, and their officers of the mine; (ii) the quantity of minerals mined; (iii) any changes in the information required to be part of the license application by subsection A of § 45.1-161.292:32; and (iv) such other information, not of a private nature, as may from time to time be required by the Department on blank forms furnished or approved by the Department.

B. Each independent contractor working or who has worked at a mine during the preceding twelve months shall annually, by February 15, mail or deliver to the Department a report for the preceding twelve months, ending with December 31. Such report shall state: (i) the independent contractor’s name and Department identification number; (ii) the number of the independent contractor’s employees who worked at each mine, listed by mine name and license number; (iii) the number of the independent contractor’s employee hours worked at each mine, listed by mine name and license number; and (iv) the lump sum amount of wages paid by the independent contractor at each mine, if such amount is above $ 1,000, listed by mine name and license number.

C. For purposes of subsection B, independent contractor shall mean any (i) extraction and processing contractors, including, but not limited to, drillers, blasters, portable crushers, and stripping and land clearing contractors; (ii) maintenance and repair contractors for mobile and stationary extraction and processing equipment, including, but not limited to, welders, mechanics, painters and electricians; and (iii) construction contractors involved in mine site construction maintenance or repair, including, but not limited to, plant construction contractors, concrete fabricators and equipment erectors.

D. Whenever the owner of a mine shall transfer the ownership of such mine to another person, the person transferring such ownership shall submit a report to the Department of such change and a statement of the tons of minerals produced since the January 1 previous to the date of such sale or transfer of such mine. A license shall not be issued covering such transfer of ownership until the report is furnished.

E. All wage information contained in any report filed with the Department pursuant to this section shall be exempt from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.) and shall not be published or open to public inspection in any manner revealing the employing unit’s identity, except that such information may be disclosed to the Director or his authorized representative concerned with carrying out any provisions of this title. Wage data aggregated in such a manner that it does not reveal the employing unit’s identity shall not be considered confidential.

History

1997, c. 390; 1998, c. 695; 2000, c. 974.