980                              Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 653

acres at each operation under one permit to be issued for each such
operation by the Director, provided, that no bond shall be for less
than [four hundred dollars ($400.00)] one thousand two hundred
dollars ($1,200.00). [During the stripping operation under such per-
mit, the Director of the Bureau of Mines may require an additional
bond if, in his determination, the original bond is not sufficient, or
he may require the operator to back fill before stripping any further
area under the permit, and for failure of the operator to comply, the
Director may stop the further operations under the permit granted;
however, the original or any additional bond required of the operator
may be released during such operation to the extent that the terms
of the bond have been complied with concerning any acre or acres.
The Director of the Bureau of Mines shall refuse a permit for any
operation if, in his determination, the provisions of this sub-heading
cannot be fully complied with.] During the stripping operation
under ANY such permit the operator shall backfill to the extent SO
that the total area of land affected does not exceed four acres THE
ACREAGE FOR WHICH BOND HAS BEEN PROVIDED, and upon
failure to comply, the Director of the Bureau of Mines shall stop
further removal of overburden until the area affected has been re-
duced to four acres or less by backfilling THE ACREAGE FOR
WHICH BOND HAS BEEN PROVIDED. No additional permit shall
be issued to any operator until he shall comply with the provisions of
this section. Liability under such bond shall be for the duration of
open pit mining at each operation, and for a period of one year there-
after, unless released prior thereto in a manner elsewhere provided by
this sub-heading. Such bond shall be signed by the operator and a cor-
porate surety licensed to do business in the State; provided, how-
ever, that the operator may elect to deposit cash or United States
Government securities with the Department in lieu of the surety bond
hereinafter required. The cash deposit or par value of such securities
shall be equal to the sum required for a bond and shall be upon the
same terms and conditions. The Director of the Bureau of Mines,
hereinafter called the "Director", shall, upon receipt of any such
deposit of cash or securities, immediately place the same with the
State Treasurer, whose duty it shall be to receive and hold the same
in the name of the State, in trust, for the purposes for which such
deposit is made. The State Treasurer shall at all times be responsible
for the custody and safekeeping of such deposits. The operator
making the deposit shall be entitled from time to time to demand and
receive from the State Treasurer, on the written order of the secre-
tary, the whole or any portion of any securities so deposited upon
depositing with him, in lieu thereof, other United States Government
securities of a par value at least equal to the sum required for a
bond as aforesaid, and also to demand, receive and recover the inter-
est and income from said securities as the same becomes due and
payable; provided, however, that where securities deposited as afore-
said, mature or are called, the State Treasurer, at the request of the
operator, shall convert such securities into other acceptable securities
designated by the operator. Contemporaneous with, and as a con-
dition precedent to, the filing of said certificate and any renewal
thereof, the operator shall pay to the Department a filing fee of [two
hundred dollars ($200.00)] fifty dollars ($50.00).

661. Within [six (6) months] thirty (30) days after the operation
is finished or abandoned, the operator shall file with Bureau of Mines,