Effective 1/1/2024

59-5-202.  Severance tax — Rate — Computation — Annual exemption.

(1)  A person engaged in the business of mining or extracting metalliferous minerals in this state shall pay to the state a severance tax equal to 2.6% of the taxable value of all metals or metalliferous minerals sold or otherwise disposed of.

Terms Used In Utah Code 59-5-202 v2

  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Metalliferous minerals: includes any ore, metal, or other substance containing the following:
(i) aluminum;
(ii) antimony;
(iii) arsenic;
(iv) barium;
(v) beryllium;
(vi) bismuth;
(vii) boron;
(viii) cadmium;
(ix) calcium;
(x) cerium;
(xi) cesium;
(xii) chromium;
(xiii) cobalt;
(xiv) columbium;
(xv) copper;
(xvi) gallium;
(xvii) germanium;
(xviii) gold;
(xix) hafnium;
(xx) indium;
(xxi) iridium;
(xxii) iron;
(xxiii) lanthanum;
(xxiv) lead;
(xxv) lithium;
(xxvi) manganese;
(xxvii) mercury;
(xxviii) molybdenum;
(xxix) nickel;
(xxx) osmium;
(xxxi) palladium;
(xxxii) platinum;
(xxxiii) praseodymium;
(xxxiv) rare earth metals;
(xxxv) rhenium;
(xxxvi) rhodium;
(xxxvii) rubidium;
(xxxviii) ruthenium;
(xxxix) samarium;
(xl) scandium;
(xli) selenium;
(xlii) silicon;
(xliii) silver;
(xliv) sodium;
(xlv) strontium;
(xlvi) tantalum;
(xlvii) tellurium;
(xlviii) thallium;
(xlix) thorium;
(l) tin;
(li) titanium;
(lii) tungsten;
(liii) uranium;
(liv) vanadium;
(lv) yttrium;
(lvi) zinc; or
(lvii) zirconium. See Utah Code 59-5-201
  • Mine: means an operation for extracting minerals and includes any deposit of valuable metalliferous minerals that are being extracted from a natural deposit, or a secondary source including tails, slag, waste dumps, or other similar secondary source, whether in solution or otherwise. See Utah Code 59-5-201
  • Mining: includes the process of leaching minerals from their naturally occurring deposit. See Utah Code 59-5-201
  • Person: means :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
    • (2)  If the metals or metalliferous minerals are shipped outside the state, this constitutes a sale, and the finished metals or the recoverable units of finished metals from the metalliferous minerals shipped are subject to the severance tax. If the metals or metalliferous minerals are stockpiled, the tax is not applicable until they are sold or shipped out of state. For purposes of the tax imposed by this chapter, uranium concentrates shall be considered to be finished metals. The owner of the metals or metalliferous minerals that are stockpiled shall report to the commission annually, in a form acceptable to the commission, the amount of metalliferous minerals so stockpiled. Metals or metalliferous minerals that are stockpiled for more than two years, however, are subject to the severance tax.

    (3)  An annual exemption from the payment of the tax imposed by this chapter upon the first $50,000 in gross value of the metalliferous mineral is allowed to each mine.

    (4)  These taxes are in addition to all other taxes provided by law and are delinquent, unless otherwise deferred, on June 1 next succeeding the calendar year when the metalliferous mineral is produced and sold or delivered.

    (5) 

    (a)  As used in this Subsection (5):

    (i)  “Great Salt Lake extraction operator” means a person who:

    (A)  is engaged in the business of mining or extracting metalliferous minerals from the brine of the Great Salt Lake; and

    (B)  enters into a mineral lease with the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands on or after May 3, 2023, or as of July 1, 2020, had a mineral lease with the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands, but not a royalty agreement for a metalliferous mineral, chloride compound, or salt.

    (ii)  “Metalliferous compound” means a metalliferous mineral or a chloride compound or salt containing a metalliferous mineral.

    (b)  Notwithstanding the exclusion for chloride compounds or salts from the definition of metalliferous minerals under Section 59-5-201, beginning with calendar year 2024, a Great Salt Lake extraction operator shall pay to the state a severance tax in accordance with this part for the mining of a metalliferous compound.

    (c)  This Subsection (5) may not be interpreted to:

    (i)  excuse a person from paying a severance tax in accordance with the other provisions of this part; or

    (ii)  void a mineral lease or royalty agreement.

    (d)  A person extracting metalliferous minerals, including a metalliferous compound, from the brine of the Great Salt Lake is subject to the payment of a royalty agreement under Section 65A-6-4 and the payment of a severance tax under this part.

    Amended by Chapter 208, 2023 General Session

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