Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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225 ILCS 710/1

(225 ILCS 710/1) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 4201)

Sec. 1. Application of Act; short title; definitions.

(a) This Act shall apply to all mines in the State of Illinois producing
minerals within the meaning of that term, as hereinafter defined.

(b) This Act may be cited as the Fluorspar Mines Act.

(c) For the purpose of this Act the singular numbers when in
reference to persons, acts, objects and things of whatsoever kind and
description shall, whenever the context will permit, be taken and held
to import and include the plural number and the plural number shall
similarly be taken and held to import and include the singular, and terms
that impart the masculine gender shall be taken to impart and include the
feminine gender as well.

(d) The term "mine," when used in the Act, shall include prospects,
openings and open-cuts and workings, and shall embrace any and all parts
of the property of such "mine" and mining plant on the surface or
underground, that contribute directly or indirectly to the mining and
handling of minerals.

Provided, that when a group of workings in proximity to one another
and under one management are administered as distinct units each working
shall be considered a separate mine.

(e) The term "mineral" when used in this Act shall mean whatever is
recognized by the standard authorities as mineral, whether metalliferous
or non-metalliferous, but shall not be held to embrace or include
silica, granite, marble, salt, sand, gravel, clay, rock, coal, lignite,
gas, oil or any substance extracted in solution or in the molten state
through bore holes.

(f) The term "operator" when used in this Act shall mean the person,
firm, or body corporate, in immediate possession of any mine and its
accessories as owner or lessee thereof, and as such responsible for the
condition and management thereof.

(g) The term "superintendent" when used in this Act shall mean the
person having the immediate supervision of the mine.

(h) The term "mine foreman" when used in this Act shall mean the
person who at any one time is charged with the general direction of the
underground work.

(i) The term "inspector" when used in this Act shall signify the
official State Inspector.

(j) The words "excavation" and "workings" when used in this Act
shall signify any and all parts of a mine excavated or being excavated,
including shafts, raises, tunnels, adits, open-cuts, and all working
places, whether abandoned or in use.

(k) Whenever the expression "number of men" or "average number of
men" employed in a mine are used in this Act as defining or constituting
classes of mines to which this Act or any specific section, clauses,
provision or rule thereof, does or does not apply, such expressions
shall be construed to mean the average number of individuals employed
during the previous year as shown by the returns to the mine inspector
or by the books or pay roll of the mine, or by all of such means and
such average number shall be determined by dividing the total number of
man shifts by the number of days the mine worked during such period.

(l) The term "explosive" or "explosives" as used in this Act shall
be held to mean and to include any chemical or any mechanical mixture
that contains any oxidizing and combustible units or other ingredients
in such proportions, quantities, or packing that an ignition by fire, by
friction, by concussion, by percussion or by detonation of any part of
the compound or mixture may cause such a sudden generation of highly
heated gases that the resultant gaseous pressures are capable of producing
destructive effect on contiguous objects or of destroying life or limb.

(m) The term "person" when used in this Act shall be held to mean
and include a firm or body corporate as well as natural persons.

(n) The term "underground" as used in this Act shall be held to mean "within
the limits of" any mine working or excavation and shall not exclude such
workings or excavations as may not be covered over by rock or earth.

(o) The term "employees" and "men employed" shall be held to mean
all individuals receiving compensation from the operator, directly or
indirectly, for labor or services performed in connection with the mine
and shall include contractors, lessors, lessees, tributers, or any one
similarly employed.

(Source: P.A. 99-224, eff. 1-1-16.)