(a) Requests for development permits shall be sent to the department by registered mail or certified mail, return receipt requested, the postmark establishing the priority of the claim or may be made in person at the office of the department in Harrisburg and a written dated receipt for the request shall be issued to such person at that time. Within six months thereafter, the discoverer shall submit evidence of financial responsibility and geological evidence of the occurrence of an ore body. Certification of an ore deposit discovery by the State geologist, acting in cooperation with the department, shall be obtained before final issuance of a development permit. A plat of the desired area on the latest United States Department of Interior Geological Survey Topographic Maps, not smaller in scale than 1:62,500 (fifteen minute quadrangles) shall be submitted with the initial request for a development permit. The final tract boundaries and size shall be determined by the department upon the advice of the State geologist and the Chief of the Division of Minerals of the department.

The secretary may reject any request if inadequate financial responsibility is shown or if investigation of the deposit for certification indicates that it cannot be economically operated. The secretary may also reject requests for good cause but cannot then grant a development permit for all, or a portion of the same area, to another party for a period of five years, at which time the original request shall receive preferential consideration. If the original discoverer fails to meet the requirements set forth necessary to obtain a development permit, subsequent applications by other parties shall be considered in the order received as determined hereinbefore.

(b) The term of the permit shall be five years and renewable yearly so long thereafter as ore is produced in economic quantities or operations in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400) per year continue for the development of additional ore. The permit shall be for all ores covered by this act or the mineral by-products of mining of said ores.

Operations in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400) per year for the development of ore must begin within one year after permit date unless sufficient reason for delay is shown. Operations shall include the engineering for or construction of operating facilities. Maps of surface and workings and analyses of ore produced shall be furnished to the department and to the State geologist upon request.

A permittee may hold more than one permit concurrently for adjacent or separated tracts as the secretary may determine. Permits may be assigned or sublet with the written consent of the department. Permits may be surrendered at any time but there shall be no reimbursement for rentals already paid.

(c) All test holes, whether drilled, bored or dug, shall be restored to contour (unless said holes are shown to be necessary to future mining operations) and all plant growth damaged shall be paid for at usual stumpage rates and replanted by and at the expense of permittee. If a permit is cancelled, restoration of surface to the satisfaction of the department shall nevertheless be required.

Permits shall be subject to such other reasonable regulations as the secretary may deem necessary to prevent unreasonable damage to forest, other plant life, waters, soil, game and fish and to protect the basic interests of the Commonwealth.

(d) A royalty of eight per centum of the value per crude ton based on current market quotations, if the ore is consumed by the permittee, or eight per centum of the contract price per ton, if the ore is sold to a consumer other than the producer of the ore, shall be paid to the department.

A ground rental of one dollar ($1) per acre per year, or one hundred dollars ($100) per year whichever is greater, shall be paid to the department for the life of the lease. Said rentals may be credited against royalties due during a given year but are not cumulative from one year to another.

(e) A bond conditioned upon the faithful performance of the terms of the permit and compliance with the rules and regulations of the department and this act shall be furnished by all permittees and shall be one hundred dollars ($100) per acre or one thousand dollars ($1,000), whichever is greater.