Definition(s)
Prospecting By Means of Boreholes, Excluding Those Drilled From Within The Underground
workings of a mine, with a view to extracting discovered minerals by means other than boreholes
This includes prospecting by boreholes for coal, tin, salt, gypsum, limestone or any other minerals which are to be extracted by deep mining, opencasting or quarrying. It includes drilling operations, coring, seismic work using boreholes and all work associated with these operations at a borehole site.
‘Mineral’ means mineral existing in its natural strata and includes oil, natural gas (but not landfill gas), coal bed methane, coal, fluorspar, gypsum, lead, potash, anhydrite, salt, tin, rocks, clays and other minerals. It does not include water with the exception of water extracted from or returned to natural strata in connection with the exploration or extraction of minerals.
Source: A Guide to the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995, Guidance on Regulations (UK HSE L72), Second Edition, 2008. Regulatory Guidance