Legal Definitions - mining

Mining refers to the process of extracting valuable natural resources from the earth.

This includes not only solid minerals and ores, such as metals and precious stones, but also liquid and gaseous resources like oil and natural gas, often through drilling operations.

• Example 1: A corporation establishes a large-scale open-pit operation in Chile to extract copper ore, which will then be processed and refined for use in electrical wiring and industrial applications. This scenario illustrates mining because it involves the large-scale removal of a valuable mineral, copper ore, from the ground for commercial purposes.
• Example 2: An energy company deploys specialized offshore platforms and equipment to drill deep wells into the seabed in the Gulf of Mexico to recover crude oil and natural gas. Here, the drilling for crude oil and natural gas falls under the definition of mining, as it is the extraction of valuable liquid and gaseous natural resources from beneath the earth's surface.
• Example 3: A local aggregate supplier operates a quarry where it excavates large volumes of sand and gravel from a riverbed in Ohio. These materials are then used in concrete production and road construction. This is an example of mining because sand and gravel are natural mineral resources being extracted from the earth for commercial use, fitting the broader definition of resource extraction.