An Act to Amend Sections Two, Four, Five, Six and Ten of Republic Act Numbered Thirty Hundred Eighty-Nine, as Amended, Entitled "An Act to Provide for Assistance to the Gold Mining Industry"

REPUBLIC ACT No. 4859

An Act to Amend Sections Two, Four, Five, Six and Ten of Republic Act Numbered Thirty Hundred Eighty-Nine, as Amended, Entitled "An Act to Provide for Assistance to the Gold Mining Industry"

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. Sections two, four, five, six and ten of Republic Act Numbered Thirty hundred eighty-nine, as amended, are hereby further amended to read as follows:

Section 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: August 2, 1966.

"Sec. 2. Definition of Terms.— When used in this Act the following terms shall, unless the context otherwise indicates, have the following respective meanings:

"Sec. 4. Gold producers qualified to receive assistance.— To be entitled to the assistance provided in this Act, a gold producer must sell to the Central Bank, and the Central Bank is hereby directed to purchase, its entire production of newly-mined gold, whether produced as principal product or as by-product, at the official price defined in Section 2(h) hereof. Should a gold producer sell his gold violation of this section at any time during a certain year, the entire production for that year shall not be entitled to assistance. Any assistance already given shall be refunded, and the manager or person in-charge of the mining corporation that sells its gold produce or part thereof in violation of this section shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than ₱5,000 or an imprisonment of not more than two years or both in the discretion of the court. The Central Bank shall issue a receipt for all gold purchased by it under this Act, which receipt shall show the number of ounces of gold purchased.

"Sec. 5. Manner of payment under this Act.— In addition to the official price defined in Section 2(h), all gold producers shall receive assistance as follows:

"Every gold producer enjoying assistance shall give a bonus equivalent to seven and one-half per cent of the assistance received to its employees whose salaries do not exceed five hundred pesos per month.

"Sec. 6. Term.— This direct assistance shall cease when the present official world price of gold of US $35.00 per ounce is increased by international treaty or convention to an amount equivalent to at least seventy dollars per ounce.

"Sec. 10. Determination of the cost of production.— The Board shall determine the cost of production of each gold mine every semester of each calendar year during the effectivity of this Act."