Expenditure Required.
SEC. 24. Expenditure Required. - A claim owner under this Decree and under the Mining Act (Commonwealth Act No. 137) as amended, shall perform annual work obligations on his mining claim, the value of which shall not be less than the following amounts:
Before the lease contract is granted, per hectare per calendar year ..............................P 20.00
After the lease contract is granted, per hectare per calendar year ............................... P100.00
A holder of a patentable claim shall before the grant of the patent applied for, perform annual work obligations on his mining claim, the value of which shall not be less than two hundred fifty pesos (P250.00) per hectare per calendar year.
The annual work obligations for each mining claim shall start with the calendar year immediately following the date of recording of such mining claim, and in the case of patentable and other claims the annual work obligations shall start with the calendar year following the date of the approval of this Decree.
Group Development.
SEC. 25. Group Development. - The claim owner or lessee may concentrate all the annual work obligations on any one or more of several contiguous or geologically related mining claims in one province, if it can be shown to the Director that such concentration of work will be most advantageous and beneficial in the development and operation of said mining claims: Provided, That any expenditure in any calendar year in excess of the minimum amount required for work obligations per hectare may be carried forward and credited to the work obligations of the group claims for the succeeding year or years: Provided, further, That, if the expenditure incurred for any claim is less than that required in any year, the difference shall be paid to the Bureau of Mines which shall accrue to its Mines Special Fund.
Legitimate Expenditure for Work Obligations.
SEC. 26. Legitimate Expenditure for Work Obligations. - Expenses for prospecting, exploration, and development work, including the costs of labor, materials and equipment used, and the fees and charges paid for geodetic, geological, geophysical, geochemical and other related surveys and for laboratory and pilot plant testing shall be considered legitimate expenditures for work obligations. The cost of buildings, machinery, equipment, roadways or other works shall be considered expenditures for work obligations if it is clearly shown that they are essential to the exploration and development of, or will facilitate the extraction of minerals from, the mining claims.
SEC. 27. Proof of Annual Work Obligations. -The claim owner shall submit proof of compliance with the annual work obligations by filing a sworn statement with the Director within sixty (60) days from the end of the year in which the work obligation is required, in a form to be prescribed by regulation. Failure of the claim owner to file such proof of compliance for two (2) consecutive years shall cause the forfeiture of all rights to his claim.
