Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1906, (In two parts), Part II
Ambassador Wright to the Secretary of State.
Tokyo, July 18, 1906.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith, in duplicate, an official translation of the mining law of Korea, which was promulgated July 12, 1906.
It will be noted that the following articles thereof apply especially to the interests of foreigners in Korea, namely:
- Art. 27. Inasmuch as the measures to be taken under the present law and the detailed regulations for carrying out the same will in many cases concern foreigners, no such measures shall be decided upon or executed without the previous consent of the resident-general. This stipulation shall also apply with regard to the mines belonging to the imperial household department.
- Art. 30. Foreigners who have been granted mining rights and have begun operations in connection therewith before the promulgation of the present law and are still carrying on such operations shall observe the provisions heerof in so far as they do not conflict with the terms of the grants made to them.
I have, etc.,
detailed regulations for enforcement of the mining law in korea.
Article 1. The minerals mentioned in the mining law shall comprise gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, antimony, mercury, zinc, iron, manganese, graphite, coal, petroleum, and sulphur. Placer minerals do not come within the scope of the said law.
Art. 2. When mining rights are sold, otherwise transferred, or inherited, the rights and obligations appertaining to the holder thereof under the mining law or the present ordinance shall pass with the mining rights.
With regard to any procedure or action taken under the mining law or the present ordinance by any holder of mining rights, or any owner of lands or any person having an interest in such lands, the resposibility for such procedure or action shall extend to the assigns of such holder, owner, or person.
Art. 3. Where there is a fixed form for applications, requests, reports, or drawings concerning mining, such form shall be complied with.
Art. 4. Applications, requests, reports, and all other documents and drawings concerning mining shall, in the case of Korean subjects, be presented to the mining bureau in the department of agriculture, commerce, and industry, and in the case of foreigners, to the residency-general.
The day on which such documents or drawings are received at the mining bureau in the department of agriculture, commerce, and industry or at the residency-general, shall be regarded as the date of their official receipt.
Art. 5. The payment of fees shall be made in revenue stamps. Postal orders issued by any post-office and bills of exchange issued by the bank intrusted with the custody of government funds may also be used for making such payments.
[Page 1047]Fees paid shall not be returned.
Art. 6. When any document or drawing presented is imperfect, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry shall order the necessary correction or additions.
Art. 7. Any applicant for or any holder of mining rights or any representative of such holder or applicant, who does not possess a place of residence in Korea, shall establish a temporary place of residence and report it to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry.
In case any applicant for or any holder of mining rights or his representative is absent and there is nobody to receive official communications for him, the full text or substance of any documents to be forwarded to such party shall be published in the Official Gazette for three days, and on the lapse of fourteen days from the completion of such publication such documents shall be regarded as having been duly served. The same rule shall also apply in case the report mentioned in the foregoing clause has not been presented.
Art. 8. Any person wishing to engage in mining shall present, together with his application, a plan of the mining claims and an explanatory statement concerning the ore deposits he wishes to work. Specimens of the minerals for which the applicant intends to mine may be substituted for this explanatory statement, in which case such specimens must be forwarded so as to reach the proper authorities within ten days from the date on which the application was received.
Any person wishing to make alterations with regard to a mining claim he has applied for shall apply for permission to do so, presenting a statement of reasons and a plan accurately showing the connection between the original and new claims.
Applications for the amalgamation, division, or alteration of mining claims shall be accompanied by a statement of reasons, a plan clearly showing the connection between the different claims to be amalgamated, divided, or altered, and the mining permit. In case the mining rights are already mortgaged, the above-mentioned application shall be accompanied by the written consent of the mortgagee or some document of equal validity.
Art. 9. The applications mentioned in the foregoing article shall be forwarded as registered mail.
Art. 10. When, in accordance with the proviso of article 4 of the mining law, the area of a mining claim, whether only applied for or already granted, is to exceed the limit of 1,000,000 tsubo, the application for such excess shall be accompanied by a statement of reasons.
Art. 11. In case of application made through a representative, the application shall be accompanied by a power of attorney or some other document of authorization.
Art. 12. In case of joint application for or joint ownership of a mining claim by two or more persons, one of them shall be made the representative of the rest, and the fact reported to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry. In case no such report is presented, the selection of such representative shall be made by the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry.
Art. 13. In case joint applicants for or joints owners of a mining claim authorize their representative to withdraw the application for mining rights or to present or withdraw the application mentioned in the second and third clauses of article 8 and in article 22, or to report the abandonment of mining operations, the application or report made by such representative shall be accompanied by the text of the resolution authorizing the same or some document of equal validity.
Art. 14. Any person who makes any of the applications mentioned in article 8 shall pay fees as follows:
| Yen. | |
| 1. Application for mining rights | 100 |
| 2. Application for alterations of mining claims applied for, but not yet granted: | |
| Extension of such claims or alterations in the nature of extension in one direction and reduction in another | 50 |
| Reduction of such claims | 20 |
| 3. Application for the amalgamation, division, or alterations of mining claims: | |
| Extension of the claims or extension in one direction and reduction in another | 50 |
| Amalgamation or division of mining claims | 40 |
| Reduction of mining claims | 20 |
Art. 15. In case the location or configuration of any mining claim applied for under article 8 is considered to be injurious to public mining interests, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry shall order alterations to be made.
Art. 16. In case any mining claim applied for under article 8 is contiguous to a mining claim possessed by another person and the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry considers it necessary, for the sake of proper supervision over mining operations, to preserve a proper distance between the respective claims, he may order the required reduction in the mining claim for which application is made.
Art. 17. When minerals other than those for which permission to mine have been obtained are discovered on a mining claim, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry may order the holder of the mining right to apply for the mining of the newly discovered minerals.
Art. 18. When any applicant for or any holder of mining rights has been ordered by the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry to present any document or drawing, he shall do so within the specified period.
When any applicant for or any holder of mining rights has been ordered by the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry to attend an investigation on the spot, he shall attend such investigations on the date named. In case he causes his representative to attend in his place, the latter shall be provided with a power of attorney or some other document of authorization.
Art. 19. When the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry has decided to grant any application mentioned in article 8, he shall communicate the fact to the applicant.
On the receipt of the above-mentioned communication, the applicant shall, within thirty days, make a request to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry for registration.
Persons who make the above-mentioned request shall pay as registration fee a sum equivalent to that mentioned in No. 1 or No. 3 of article 14, according to the nature of the application.
When the fee mentioned in the foregoing clause has been paid, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry shall issue the mining permit or effect the alteration asked for.
Art. 20. No applications, requests, or reports shall be accepted in the following cases:
- 1.
- In case the application is not accompanied by the required plan, explanatory statement, statement of reasons or the written consent or some document of equal validity, or specimens have not been submitted within the specified period, as required by the provisions of article 8 and article 22.
- 2.
- In case applications are not forwarded as registered mail, as provided in article 9.
- 3.
- In case applications are not accompanied by a statement of reasons, as provided in article 10.
- 4.
- In case applications or reports are not accompanied by the text of the resolution or some document of equal validity, as provided in article 13.
- 5.
- In case fees have not been paid.
Art. 21. Applications, requests, and reports shall be rejected and returned in the following cases:
- 1.
- In case, on the occasion of investigations on the spot, the applicant for mining rights is unable to delimitate clearly the mining claims applied for, or in case, on the occasion of investigations concerning such claims, he is unable to give proper explanations.
- 2.
- In case the mining sites delimitated by the applicant are widely different from the plans accompanying the application.
- 3.
- In case corrections or additions have not been made within the period specified by order issued by virtue of the provisions of article 6.
- 4.
- In case the plan of alterations has not been submitted within the period specified by order issued by virtue of the provisions of article 15.
- 5.
- In case the plan of alterations has not been submitted within the period specified by order issued by virtue of the provisions of article 16.
- 6.
- In case the applicant has not attended on the date specified by order issued by virtue of the provisions of the second clause of article 18.
- 7.
- In case the registration fee has not been paid within the period provided in article 19.
Art. 22. Person desiring to sell, assign, or mortgage mining rights shall submit an application accompanied by the mining permit. In case the said mining rights are already mortgaged the application shall be accompanied by the written consent of the mortgagee or some document of equal validity.
The applicant mentioned in the foregoing clause shall pay a fee of 100 yen.
The provisions of article 19 shall apply to the application mentioned in the present article, the registration fee required being 100 yen.
Art. 23. Any person who has inherited mining rights shall immediately report the fact to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry, such report to be accompanied by the mining permit.
When the above-mentioned report is made, a registration fee of 100 yen shall be paid.
The provision of the fourth clause of article 19 shall be applicable in the case mentioned in the foregoing clause.
Art. 24. Persons making the undermentioned requests concerning mining shall pay the respective fees:
- 1.
- Request for the renewal of a mining permit, 20 yen per item.
- 2.
- Request for a copy of the plan of a mining claim, 30 yen per item.
- 3.
- Request for the perusal of the mining register or plan of a mining claim, 1 yen per hour.
- 4.
- Request for a copy of the mining register, 2 yen per leaf of the copy.
- 5.
- Request for the perusal of local registers of mining claims granted or those applied for, 10 yen per hour per locality of the minimum size.
Art. 25. Holders of mining rights shall present in January and July every year a detailed statement for the preceding six months, giving the amount of the output, the amount sold, the price realized, the number of working days, and the number of laborers, calculated according to the number of actual working days.
The statement mentioned in the foregoing clause shall be presented immediately whenever mining rights have lapsed or have been transferred or whenever mining operations have been abandoned.
Art. 26. The value of the minerals mentioned in the second clause of article 19 of the mining law shall be determined by the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry.
Art. 27. Every holder of mining rights shall prepare in December each year a plan of underground workings based on actual surveys and present it to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry not later than the end of February of the following year.
Art. 28. Every holder of mining rights shall establish a mining office at the place where his mining claim is located and keep at such office a plan of the mining claim and a plan of the underground workings based on actual surveys.
Art. 29. Where the holder of mining rights does not personally attend to the management of mining business, he shall appoint a representative and report the fact to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry, under their joint signatures.
The representative mentioned in the foregoing clause shall be considered as intrusted with full powers with regard to any procedure or action concerning the management of mining business which the holder of mining rights is required to perform under the provisions of the mining law and the present ordinance. Whenever the holder of mining rights restricts the power of his representative, he shall immediately report the fact.
Art. 30. When mining rights have been revoked or mining work has been abandoned, the possessor of mortgage right against the said mining rights may, except in the case mentioned in clauses A and D of article 12 of the mining law, succeed to the said mining rights by applying for permission to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry within sixty days.
The applicant mentioned in the foregoing clause shall pay a fee of 100 yen.
The provision of the fourth clause of article 19 shall apply as regards the case mentioned in the foregoing clause.
Art. 31. Whenever a mining right has lapsed by the abandonment of mining or any other reason, the holder of such mining right shall immediately report the fact to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry, at the same time returning his mining permit.
Art. 32. Any person who, under the provisions of article 14 of the mining law, wishes to enter land owned by another person for purpose of surveys or [Page 1050] investigations, shall present a request to the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry, giving the name and classification of such land and stating the object he has in view.
In such cases a fee of 30 yen shall be paid.
Art. 33. Any person asking for the decision of the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry, by virtue of the second clause of article 6 or article 17, of the mining law, shall submit a request clearly stating the reasons, together with detailed plans based on actual surveys and other documents bearing on the matter.
Any person asking for the decision of the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry shall pay a fee of 50 yen.
On the receipt of the request mentioned in the first clause of the present article, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry shall communicate the fact to the other party and order the latter to submit an answer within a specified period.
When such communication can not be made owing to the fact that the recipient’s address is not clearly known, the substance of such communication shall be published in the Official Gazette for three days, and on the lapse of fourteen days from the completion of such publication the communication shall be regarded as having been duly served.
In case the other party has failed to submit an answer, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry may give his decision solely on the strength of the request.
In case examinations on the spot are required, the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry may order the person making the request or the other party to defray the actual cost of such examinations.
Copies of the decision, together with a statement of reasons, shall be given to the person making the request and the other party.
Art. 34. Any holder of mining rights who violates the provisions of article 18, article 25, article 27, article 28, the first clause of article 29, or article 31, shall be liable to a fine of not less than 5 yen nor more than 50 yen.
The measures required for carrying out the provisions of the foregoing clause shall be decided upon and executed by the minister of agriculture, commerce, and industry.
supplementary rule.
Art. 35. The present ordinance shall come into force on the same day.