Extraction.
Extraction. Extraction means the activities performed to harvest minerals or natural resources from the ground or from a body of water. Extraction includes, but is not limited to, operating equipment to harvest minerals or natural resources from mines and wells and the physical processes involved in refining. Extraction also includes operating equipment to extract minerals or natural resources from the waste or residue of prior extraction, including crude oil extraction to the extent that processes applied to that crude oil yield an applicable critical mineral as a byproduct. Extraction concludes when activities are performed to convert raw mined or harvested products or raw well effluent to substances that can be readily transported or stored for direct use in critical mineral processing. Extraction does not include activities that begin with a recyclable commodity (as such activities are recycling). Extraction does not include the chemical and thermal processes involved in refining.