When used in this subchapter, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Access road" means an existing or proposed non-public road used in connection with opencut operations.  The term includes the roadbed, cut and fill slopes, ditches, and other structures and disturbances related to access road establishment, use, and reclamation.

(2) "Department" means the department of environmental quality provided for in Title 2, chapter 15, part 35, MCA;

(3) "Facility-level area" means access roads and areas where parking, equipment and material storage, soil and overburden stockpiling, fuel storage, mine material processing and stockpiling, other product production and storage, and water system and control structures are situated.

(4) "Main permit area" means facility-level areas and mine-level areas, except access roads.

(5) "Mine-level area" means areas where excavating, grading, and excess overburden and fines disposal occur.

(6) "Mine material" means sand, gravel, scoria, bentonite, clay, soil, and peat.

(7) "Opencut operation" means the areas and activities related to opencut mine site preparation, access road use, mine material mining and processing, and reclamation.

(8) "Overburden" means the material below the soil and above the mine material.

(9) "Soil" means the dark or root-bearing surface material, which is typically the O, A, E, and B horizons in soil profile descriptions.