Industrial Cuba 34 



THE MINING LAWS OF CUBA 



Instead of "staking a claim" to a mining 

 property in Cuba it is "denounced." In other 

 words, a prospector makes a drawing in dupli- 

 cate, in which he starts from a given center and 

 goes so many meters east, so many south, west 

 and north, until he completes either a square, 

 parallelogram, or rectangular figure, after which 

 an estimate is made of the number of hectares 

 included in said drawing (a hectare being equiv- 

 alent to about two and one-half acres of land). 



With his drawing, and a sufficient amount of 

 cash to pay $2.00 for each hectare, he presents 

 himself at the office of the Provincial Govern- 

 ment corresponding to the province where the 

 mine is located, and there registers his claim, 

 pays his money and gets a receipt, signed and 

 sealed by the Government, with the date, and 

 even the hour, attached. This claim or "de- 

 nouncement" once registered, he is entitled to 

 everything that lies below what is termed the 

 agricultural surface of the ground for all time 

 to come. 



If the owner of said property protests against 

 the miner digging or boring for copper, asphalt, 

 oil, or any other product lying beneath the sur- 

 face, the claimant to the mineral rights must 

 adjust his claim amicably with the owner of the 

 property, lease it or work it, paying to said owner 

 damages or a price that, if not mutually agreed 

 on, is determined by a board of appraisers. In 

 the meantime the mine can be developed, subject 

 to a bond being given until a settlement with the 

 owner of the property is made. 



The usual custom, however, is to arrange with 



