20 C.F.R. § 718.304 : Employees' Benefits — OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR — FEDERAL COAL MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT OF 1969, AS AMENDED — STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING COAL MINERS' TOTAL DISABILITY OR DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS — PRESUMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATIONS — Irrebuttable presumption of total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis

There is an irrebuttable presumption that a miner is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis, that a miner's death was due to pneumoconiosis or that a miner was totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis at the time of death, if such miner is suffering or suffered from a chronic dust disease of the lung which:

(a) When diagnosed by chest X-ray (see §718.202 concerning the standards for X-rays and the effect of interpretations of X-rays by physicians) yields one or more large opacities (greater than one centimeter in diameter) and would be classified in Category A, B, or C in accordance with the classification system established in Guidelines for the Use of the ILO International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses as provided in §718.102(d); or
(b) When diagnosed by biopsy or autopsy, yields massive lesions in the lung; or
(c) When diagnosed by means other than those specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, would be a condition which could reasonably be expected to yield the results described in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section had diagnosis been made as therein described: Provided, however, that any diagnosis made under this paragraph must accord with acceptable medical procedures.

20 C.F.R. § 718.304

79 FR 21613, 4/17/2014