Oregon Revised Statutes Counties and County Officers § 215.298

(1) For purposes of ORS 215.213 (2) and 215.283 (2), a land use permit is required for mining more than 1,000 cubic yards of material or excavation preparatory to mining of a surface area of more than one acre. A county may set standards for a lower volume or smaller surface area than that set forth in this subsection.

(2) A permit for mining of aggregate shall be issued only for a site included on an inventory in an acknowledged comprehensive plan.

(3) For purposes of ORS 215.213 (2) and 215.283 (2) and this section, “mining” includes all or any part of the process of mining by the removal of overburden and the extraction of natural mineral deposits thereby exposed by any method including open-pit mining operations, auger mining operations, processing, surface impacts of underground mining, production of surface mining refuse and the construction of adjacent or off-site borrow pits except those constructed for use as access roads. “Mining” does not include excavations of sand, gravel, clay, rock or other similar materials conducted by a landowner or tenant on the landowner or tenant's property for the primary purpose of reconstruction or maintenance of access roads and excavation or grading operations conducted in the process of farming or cemetery operations, on-site road construction or other on-site construction or nonsurface impacts of underground mines.