Opencut Mining

September 13, 2023

Dear Stakeholder,

We are writing with news about the Opencut Dryland Permit application which was made available online through FACTS on May 15^th, 2023. Unfortunately, the online Dryland Permit application will no longer be supported in FACTS.  Therefore, DEQ will no longer accept applications through FACTS starting on Friday, September 15^th.

Any future submissions of Dryland Permit applications must be on the Word document application found on the DEQ website under “Opencut Mining Forms”. This includes applications that have already been submitted through FACTS but have not yet been approved. If you have an application for a Dryland Permit in FACTS that has not been approved and would like assistance with transferring data from FACTS to the Word document form, please send an email to wbausch2@mt.gov requesting help with that task by October 6^th, 2023. You will be contacted within a few days to discuss the next steps in that process.

Although this is a temporary setback, our goal is to eventually have all Opencut applications available for online submittal. DEQ will continue to work towards making this a reality but is currently taking time to reassess our strategy in order to ensure that any future online applications have long-term viability. DEQ appreciates the time taken by operators to provide feedback on the online application portal and will engage stakeholders in our next steps.  

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact Whitney Bausch at (406)444-3403 with any questions or concerns.

The next Opencut Stakeholders Meeting - To Be Determined.

Annual Production Reports (APR) for 2022 were mailed January 3, 2023.

2022 APR's will be due March 1, 2023.

The Notice of Adoption and Amendment of Opencut Mining rules was published in the Montana Administrative Register (MAR) Issue 19 on October 7th, 2022. The Notice of Adoption and Amendment of Opencut Mining rules can be found on pages 47-55.

The Notice (MAR Notice 17-425) can be found at the following link: https://rules.mt.gov/gateway/ShowNoticeFile.asp?TID=11154. 

The Notice of Adoption and Amendment of the Opencut Mining rules addresses comments received by DEQ during the public comment period for the proposed rules that lasted from July 8th through August 8th, 2022, and during a public meeting held by DEQ on August 8th, 2022.

The Opencut Mining rules were updated on the Secretary of State’s website on October 7th, 2022.

Updated forms reflecting changes to the rules will be uploaded to the DEQ Opencut Mining website by close of business on October 11th. DEQ Opencut will continue to accept older forms until November 10th, 2022, after which operators and applicants will be required to submit documents to DEQ on the new forms.