108. Code not to apply in certain mines.- (1).- The provision of the Code, except those contained in sections 35,38, 40,41 and 44 shall not apply to –

(i) any mine or part thereof in which excavation is being made for prospecting purposes only and not for the purpose of obtaining minerals for use and sale:

Provided that –

(a) not more than twenty persons are employed on any one day in connection with any such excavation;

(b) the depth of the excavation measured from its highest to its lowest point nowhere exceeds six meters or, in the cases of an excavation in coal, fifteen meters; and

(c) no part of such excavation extends below superjacent ground;

(ii) any mine engaged in the extraction of kankar, murram, laterite, boulder, gravel, shingle, ordinary sand (excluding moulding sand, glasss and other mineral sands), ordinary clay (excluding kaolin, china clay, white clay or fire clay), building stone, slate, road metal, earth, fullers earth, marl, chalk and limestone:

Provided that-

(a) the working do not extend below superjacent ground; or

(b) where it is an opencast workings-

i. the depth of the excavation measured from its highest to its lowest point not anywhere exceeds six meters;

ii. the number of persons employed on any one day does not exceed fifty; and

iii. explosives are not used in connection with the excavation.

(2) As soon as an establishment becomes a mine, the employer of the mine shall give notice electronically, to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator within seven days from the date it becomes a mine.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1) the Central Government may declare by an order in writing require that all provisions of the Code shall be applicable, in such mine or part thereof subject to such conditions as may specify therein.