CISR14230 | The Scheme: construction operations: mineral extraction

| CISR14600 | Action guide contents | |—————————————————————————————————–|———————–|

FA04/S74 (3)(a) and (b) exclude from the Construction Industry Scheme

• ‘drilling for, or extraction of, oil or natural gas’

• ‘extraction (whether by underground or surface working) of minerals; tunnelling or boring, or construction of underground works for this purpose’.

This means that any work connected with the actual physical extraction of minerals is outside the scope of CIS. Extraction is taken to include

• drilling for and pumping oil and gas

• the digging and removal of coal and other minerals from underground deposits or surface workings such as an open cast mine

• quarrying.

In addition, where work such as tunnelling, boring, shoring up of tunnels, construction of rail systems, conveyer systems and other work connected with extraction is done underground, this likewise is outside the scope of the Scheme (in contrast, tunnelling done in connection with construction of a main line railway, for instance, would be caught by the Scheme).

Note that the exclusion only extends to extraction and construction work done underground. It does not apply to construction work carried out in the surface area of mines on buildings and other works relating to the handling and transportation of the minerals. Thus the construction of administration buildings, bathhouses, surface railways, conveyer systems and processing plant on the surface is subject to CIS in the normal way.

Land reclamation

Landscaping undertaken in connection with restoring the area previously occupied by mining buildings following demolition is caught by the Scheme. Here, the landscaping represents a finishing operation relative to the demolition which is squarely within the scope of the Scheme (FA04/S74 (2)(a)). Where, however, an area employed for open-cast mining is landscaped after extraction has ceased, the landscaping is not caught because it does not render another construction operation complete.

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Within CIS

• construction of surface buildings and works

• landscaping mine areas following demolition of surface works. Unlike open-cast mines, underground mines are likely to have various buildings or structures as well as other works forming part of the land, such as pit head machinery, pumps and drills and so FA04/S74 (2)(b) refers.

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Excluded from CIS

The exclusion applies to

• drilling and pumping oil and gas

• physical extraction of minerals underground or on the surface

• tunnelling, boring and construction of underground works

• removal of surface soil prior to starting open-cast mining

• landscaping open-cast mine areas as part of land reclamation.