1. When they cross the surface of the concession itself its owner may make use of them as of his exclusive property while they continue its borders with the sole obligation of not wasting them or rendering them useless and of returning the surplus to their natural course. If they must be rendered useless or

poisoned he can not make use of them except in part.

2. When they run along the edge of two concessions with surface belonging to each, the owners of fronting properties have a right to make use thereof proportionally to the industrial establishments in activity and in the order of their establishments, returning the surplus to their natural course. Their proportion shall be fixed by common accord and in case of disagreement by unrestricted arbitration, experts on the subject; taking as a rule that the later installation only has a right to the water not needed by the party in front.

3. When the riparian owner taking into consideration the situation of the places, can not make use of the waters which run by the surface of his concession he may take them from those of his neighbour provided always he does not prejudice the rights of the latter.

Art. 71. The use of the waters that are not of the Public Domain to the proprietors of mining concessions are only for the benefit of the riparian concession without it being possible to extend it to other concessions not contiguous although they also belong to them. Nor can they make use of the waters if they can not return them to their course save where no prior concessions or rights exist.

Art. 72. The wrongful use of waters or their waste may be claimed by everyone holding an interest therein and whoever uses them badly shall be compelled to improve his use of them and to pay a fine of from 100 to 500 bolivares in each case according to the circumstances and in benefit of the party prejudiced.

Art. 73. When the owner of a concession is not the owner of the surface he shall have the right after expropriation to make use of the waters in accordance with the rules established in this title, and in absence thereof in accord with these determined in the Civil Code in so far as they may be applicable.

Art. 74. Every owner (of) land crossed or bordering on waters of the Public Domain or which do not belong to him has the right to employ them for motive force and in no case can he be forbidden them for the necessities of life.

Art. 75. The rights granted to the owner of mines by the foregoing articles do not deprive the owner of the surface of the waters necessary for watering his plantations that he may there have established, provided always the quantity permits since otherwise there is open to the mining owner the action of expropriation in accordance with the law.

Art. 76. The servitudes of an aqueduct established over land where there is a mine shall remain in force in any event without their enjoyment being able to be denied the owner of the mine save agreement to the contrary.

Art. 77. If the working of a mine can not be accomplished except with the water without which another mine already in exploitation is worked; the new denouncer shall have the right to take such water provided always he fulfills the fellowing requisites:

1. That he provides first at his cost to the prior mine another water for its working in sufficient quantity.

2. That he indemnify the proprietor of the prior mine any damage that the variation of the stream may bring to him, whether on account of the greater cost of its preservation or on account of any other circumstances.

Art: 78. Every water-right abandoned by the proprietor or who used to make use thereof brings about the cessation of the rights that might have belonged to him. The abandonment must appear from facts which makes the abandonment clear.

Art. 79. The rights to waters is transferred with the rights over the mines although this is not expressed, save agreements to the contrary.

Art. 80. The right of using waters belonging to a mining concession rendered vacant are not revived by the new denouncement that may be made if they have been put to use by another.

Art. 81. Every person who uses water and is obliged to return surplus to the stream must do this within his own boundaries save agreement to the contrary. Art. 82. Mining properties and those which border on them are subject to the servitudes to which Article 63 refers without the need of further proof as to their necessity on the part of the person requesting them and the others that it may be necessary to establish shall be governed by the provisions of the Civil Code.

Art. 83. The mines of alluvion or clay or in other forms than determined in the following Article shall pay Bs. 0.50 per year per hectarea during the first three years of the title, and one bolivar per year per hectarea during the rest of the period of the concession.

Art. 84. The mines of veins or lodes shall pay one bolivar per year per hectare during the first three years of the title and two bolivars per year per hectare during the rest of the period of the concession.

Art. 85. When the exploitation of the mine has not commenced within three years after issuance of title or if it has been suspended through force major, duly proved in either case, the superficial tax shall be fifty centimos of a bolivar for alluvial mines and on one bolivar for mines of veins or lodes.

Art. 86. The payment of the tax on exploitation is obligatory from the time that mineral is won from the mine and is as follows:

For each gram of gold ten centimos of a bolivar.

For each ten of copper mineral sixty centimos of a bolivar.

For the other substances enumerated in Article 2 three per cent of the commercial value of the mineral won calculated at the outlet of the mine in accordance with the average price which the mineral has had in the market during the previous half year.

Sole Paragraph: The concentrated minerals will be taxed in proportion to the concentration which has been applied.

Art. 87. The concessionaire shall pay in addition:

1. Five bolivares in stamps which shall be cancelled in the registry of all denouncements.

2. Twenty five centimos of a bolivar in stamps for each mining hertarea of veins or lodes to be cancelled when title is issued.

3. Three centimos of a bolivar in stamps to be cancelled when title is issued, for each hectarea of mines of alluvion or clay.

Art. 88. The petitioners for exclusive exploration permits shall pay 250 bolivares per year for each thousand hectares on fraction of a thousand hectares included in the zone the exploration of which is asked for.

Art. 89. The concessionaires of mines or their administrators shall keep two books one in which they shall note daily the number of kilograms or metric tons of minerals extracted, and the other in which they shall note the amount of grains or kilograms of raw metal extracted from each kilogram or metric ton of mineral exploited. These books before being placed in use shall be presented to the Judge of First Instance who exercises jurisdiction on the terri

tory of the location of the mine to the end that said official may place on the first page of each book a note of pages that it contains, dated and signed by the Judge and the Secretary. The other pages shall be marked by the Judges with his flourish.

Art. 90. The exporters of the products of the mines referred to in Article 2 shall manifest in the Custom House through which they make their exportation the name, location and proprietor of the mine from which come the minerals to be exported.

Art. 91. The Machinery, Dredges, Utensils and accessories for the working of mines as well as the accessories for the motors, lighting and ventilating thereof, the machines, instruments, utensils and accessories for the metallurgical establishments and the chemical products for the assay and reduction of metals shall be exempt from import duties also there shall be the repair parts of machines, the grease for axles, the steel, iron in bars or in sheets, the copper in sheet for the amalgamation and whatever other metals in primitive form such as silver, zinc, and others that may be necessary for the chemical assay and treatment of minerals. The interested parties shall state minutely the objects to which this article refers and shall fulfill the formalities prescribed in the Treasury Code.

Art. 92. The explosives for the working of mines can not be classified higher than in the third class of the customs tariff, the Executive being authorized to concede exoneration when it deems it proper. Their introduction, storage and transportation shall be subject to the regulations that the National Executive may dictate and to the Police Laws of the Locality.

Art. 93. The responsibility that attaches for on account of the fraudulent introduction of objects as for the working of mines and destined to another use shall be made effective. as a preferred credit against the mining concession for which the introduction has been made.

Art. 94. Every concessionaire of mines, for the exploitation thereof, has the right to establish ways of communications that may be necessary such as railroads, tramways, aerial cables to transport the minerals, and the products of exploitation, whether to central offices or to points of embrakation as well as to construct wharves or loading stations the corresponding plans and projects to be submitted to the Federal Executive for its consideration.

Sole paragraph: All the material required for the purposes of the proceeding Articles shall be exempt from Custom duties.

Art. 95. The machinery and other effects that a concessionaire may import free of duty for the exclusive use of his mine, or mines, can not without previous permission of the Federal Executive be alienated in any form nor be used except for the mine or mines for which they were imported nor can they be taken out of the country without said authorization.

The Federal Executive may exact the payment of the corresponding duties that have been exonerated.

The violation of the provisions embodied in these articles, shall be punishable by a fine of from 1,000 to 20,000 bolivares in accordance with the importance of the case.

TITLE XI.

TERRITORIAL MINING DIVISION AND THE EMPLOYEES OF MINES.

Art. 96. For the purpose of this Law the Federal Executive shall create mining circuits that it deems advisable each one of which can include various States or Territories and it shall subdivide them into Mining Districts. They

shall be headed by engineers and there can be added other employees if it is considered advisable.

Art. 97. The administration of everything pertaining to mines corresponds to the National Executive through the Minister of Fomento and the other employees in this Department.

Art. 98. In each mining district there shall be a Mine Guard whose office shall be in each case located where designated by the Minister of Fomento. To fill the position of Mine Guard it is necessary:

1. To be of age.

2. To be an engineer or surveyor or to have the practical knowledge of the mining industry.

Sole Paragraph: Until the Mine Guards are appointed the positions will be temporarily filled by officials who the Minister of Fomento will name for the purpose.

Art. 99. One Mine Guard can be named for several Districts.
Art. 100. The duties of the Mine Guard are:

1. To receive denouncement of mines, issue receipts to interested parties, to handle and control the docket until it is forwarded to the Minister of Fomento. 2. To issue tickets for the exploitation of pits. These tickets shall be made on stamped paper of fifty centimos of a bolivar and stamps to the value of one bolivar shall be cancelled and the Mine Guard shall not collect any other fee for this service.

3. To keep a "Book of Registry" pages and signed by the Civil Judge of the First Instance in the State, wherein there shall be transcribed the final titles issued by the National Executive, corresponding to the circuit under his charge as well as every instrument or whereby a concession is transferred in whole or in part to another owner, in which case a marginal note shall be placed where the final title is recorded.

4. To keep a book of registry for the tickets with the same formality, in which in consecutive order shall be registered the ticket for the exploitation of pits.

5. To keep a book of registry exclusively for exploration permits, with the same formalities, in which shall be noted the petitions for permits and of the permits issued.

6. To keep a "Copy Books of Reports" with the same requisites in which there shall be copied these which every owner or chief of exploitation should send him every month concerning the progress of the exploitation.

7. To send to the Minister of Fomento the original reports to which the foregoing number refers, as soon as he receives them, after having seen to it that they are correct which he shall make appear in a note placed on the report itself.

8. To verify on the ground the plans of the mining concessions and to give possession of them to the petitioners.

9. To keep a "Copy Book Acts of Possession" fociled and signed as the foregoing ones in which there shall be copied in its entirety every possession accorded. Each copy shall be certified and signed by the Mine Guard.

10. To visit every three months the mines. During these acts the enterprises shall place at the disposition of the Mine Guard or of the employees whom the Federal Executive shall designate their books of account in order to verify the exactness of the liquidations and payments of the mining imposts. If from the examination of the books it should be proved that some enterprise is de frauding the Public Treasury those convicted of the fraud shall pay a fine five times greater than the fraud committed and they shall moreover be placed at the disposition of the component tribunals for the corresponding trial.

11. To fulfill whatever other duty that by this Law, Regulations or Resolutions may be assigned to him.

Art. 101. In the Capital of the Republic there shall be a technical Inspector of mines who shall be a graduate engineer.

Art. 102. The Technical Inspectorship of Mines shall be under the direct orders of the Minister of Fomento.

Art. 103. The following are the duties of the Inspector of Mines:

1. To make general plans of the concessions situated in the different Districts adding all the geological data that it is possible to collect of the respective mining regions being obliged to formulate on it the notes relative to the names and class of mines, the number of hectares of each mine and the other necessary information on the subject.

2. To visit the mines in exploitation whenever the Federal Executive may deem it proper to take note of the methods employed in their working and in the assay of the various minerals. In these cases the Director or Representatives of one or more mining claims must place at the disposal of the Technical Inspector of Mines the means and manner necessary when he shall request them, to inspect the works thereof, and to exhibit to him the plans, pay-roll and other information that may assist a complete understanding of the exploitation and he must thus also present to him the title of ownership and other documents which substantiate the rights acquired over the mining claim when the Inspector may need them to clar fy any circumstances that may affect the rights of the Nation or of a third party.

3. To render an annual report for each Circuit in which there may be denouncements or mines in exploitation in which there shall be set out its general condition, the improvements, possible therein and the faults which should be corrected in the benefit of the mining industry.

4. To make a report on every record wherein a concession of mines is requested prior to the issuance of the title.

5. To answer the consultations which the Minister of Fomento may address to him on the department of mines.

6. To keep a Book-Index of Mines" in which shall be set out the name of the mine, its sort, number of hectares of which it consists, name of concessionaire, date of its allotment, its location, note of transfers and other indications relative thereto.

7. To discharge any other duty which by this law or the National Laws may be attributed to him, or by the regulations which the National Executive may dictate.

8. Make the analysis and assay of the precious metals.

Art. 104. There shall be an assistant to the Technical Inspector of Mines who shall help him in the discharge of the duties confided to the former. This official must also be an engineer.

Art. 105. The federal executive can name special Technical Inspectors for the different mining sections.

TITLE XII.

MINING COMPANIES.

Art. 106. The Companies or associations that may be formed for the exploitation and exploration of mines whether in joint part ownership, in simple silent partnership or by shares or corporations they shall be constituted according to the rules of the code of commerce and they have the character of civil companies.