All funds received by the department from permit fees, from forfeitures of bonds and of cash deposits and securities, and from all fines and all civil penalties collected under this act, shall be held by the State Treasurer in a special fund, separate and apart from all other moneys in the State Treasury, to be known as the “Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Fund,” and shall be used by the department for the protection of the health, safety and general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and for the conservation of surface land areas which may be affected by the deep mining of bituminous coal.