Colorado Revised Statutes Title 34. Mineral Resources § 34-1-302. Definitions

(1) “Commercial mineral deposit” means a natural mineral deposit of limestone used for construction purposes, coal, sand, gravel, and quarry aggregate, for which extraction by an extractor is or will be commercially feasible and regarding which it can be demonstrated by geologic, mineralogic, or other scientific data that such deposit has significant economic or strategic value to the area, state, or nation.

(2) “Extractor” means any individual, partnership, association, or corporation which extracts commercial mineral deposits for use in the business of selling such deposits or for use in another business owned by the extractor or any department or division of federal, state, county, or municipal government which extracts such deposits.

(3) “Populous county or populous counties of the state” means any county or city and county having a population of sixty-five thousand inhabitants or more according to the latest federal decennial census.