Declaring Certain Radioactive Minerals as Property of State Not Subject to Mining Location or Disposition

January 30, 1975

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 647

DECLARING URANIUM, THORIUM AND OTHER RADIOACTIVE MINERALS AS PROPERTY OF THE STATE NOT SUBJECT TO MINING LOCATION OR DISPOSITION

WHEREAS, uranium, thorium, and other radioactive minerals are strategic materials needed for the development of nuclear power and other essential critical uses;

WHEREAS, the critical shortage of petroleum and other sources of power and fuel for the security of the State and for Philippine economic and industrial development has heightened the importance and necessity of finding radioactive minerals in the country; cd i

WHEREAS, the existence and deposition of radioactive minerals in the Philippines has to-date been merely indicated but not proven in a few areas in the Philippines; and

WHEREAS, it is necessary that all radioactive mineral resources be conserved for the sole use of the State and its agencies;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order the following:

SECTION 1. Radioactive minerals shall means uranium, thorium and such other minerals from which radioactive power and substances may be generated or produced.

SECTION 2. Radioactive minerals found as raw deposits shall form part of the patrimony of the State not subject to mining location, lease or disposition, and shall not be processed, manufactured, refined or used except by the Government and its agencies, or by person or entities duly authorized for the purpose: Provided, That those who have discovered radioactive minerals and registered the same with the Bureau of Mines, and verified by the Director of Mines to be existing in sufficiently exploitable quantity, shall be entitled to a bonus of not less than ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00), upon the order of the President on the recommendation of the Director of Mines. acd

SECTION 3. The discovery, location, registration, exploration and exploitation of mineral deposits under existing mining laws shall not include the rights to the radioactive minerals that may be found within the mining claim or area leased, located or acquired.

SECTION 4. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 5. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 30th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Five.