2. As used in this act:
"Approved" means approved by the commissioner.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development or any of his authorized representatives.
"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Excavations" or "workings" means shafts, tunnels, entries, winzes, raises, stopes, open cut and any and all working places and parts of a mine, either above ground or underground, excavated or being excavated, whether abandoned or in use.
"Face" means the advancing breast of any place of work.
"Mine" includes any mines within the State, whether on the surface or underground and any mining plant, material, equipment or explosives on the surface or underground, which may contribute to the mining or handling of ore or other metalliferous or nonmetalliferous products. The term "mine" shall also include quarry, sand pit, gravel pit, clay pit and shale pit.
"Operator" means the person, firm, association, company, corporation or any officers or agents thereof, in immediate possession of any mine or mining claim or its accessories as owner or lessee and, as such, responsible for its management and condition.
"Section" means the mine safety section within the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Superintendent" means the person who has immediate supervision of a mine for an operator.
Words used in the singular shall include the plural, and the plural shall include the singular.