(c) Whenever the total production from domestic mines of any of the minerals to which this title applies exceeds the quarterly limitation in any one quarter, the Secretary may establish, for succeeding quarters, limitations on the quantities for each producer that will be eligible for stabilization payments, but no producer shall have a quarterly limitation for any mineral less than the quantity set forth for that mineral in the prceeding subsection.

SEC. 104. (a) In the case of tungsten trioxide, stabilization payments on the sales of any one producer shall be limited to fifteen thousand short-ton units per quarter from production originating in any one mining district: Provided, That in the event eligible sales from newly mined production is less than the quarterly limitation for this material, as established by the Secretary, the Secretary, at his option and under regulations issued pursuant to this Act, may make stabilization payments on sales of tungsten ores and concentrates from the inventory of producers which were produced after July 1, 1956, but prior to the effective date of this title. In no event shall payments on sales from such inventories exceed an aggregate of twenty-five thousand short-ton units to any one producer from production originating in any one mining district, nor shall payments on sales from such inventories, together with sales from newly mined production, exceed in any quarter an aggregate of fifteen thousand short-ton units for any one producer from production originating in any one mining district. SEC. 105. No stabilization payment made under this title on the recoverable content of any ores or concentrates shall exceed the following: Lead, 3.9 cents per pound; zinc, 2.9 cents per pound; fluorspar (acid grade), $13 per short ton; and tungsten trioxide, $18 per short-ton unit of WO3.

SEC. 106. Whenever the Secretary determines that the total quarterly production of any of the materials on which stabilization payments are to be made, as provided in this title, has exceeded the quarterly limitation for each of two successive quarters by an amount in excess of that shown in the following schedule: Lead, nine thousand tons; zinc, fifteen thousand tons; fluorspar (acid grade), five thousand tons; tungsten trioxide, fifty-five thousand short-ton units, he shall provide that all stabilization payments on such materials sold thereafter shall be suspended until such time as he shall be satisfied that the annual rate of production from domestic mines will approximate the amounts set forth in section 102 (a).

SEC. 107. The provisions of this title shall take effect on the first day of the first quarter next following the date of enactment of this Act and shall terminate on June 30, 1963.

TITLE II

SEC. 201. (a) In addition to any payments under title I of this Act, the Secretary shall make limited tonnage payments, upon presentation of evidence satisfactory to him of a sale of newly mined ores, or concentrates produced therefrom, as provided in this section.

(b) (1) Such payments shall be made to producers of lead, as follows:

(A) As long as the market price for common lead at New York, New York, as determined by the Secretary is at or below 151⁄2 cents per pound, at the rate of 1.1250 cents per pound on not to exceed five hundred tons per quarter per producer; or

(B) As long as such market price is above 152 cents per pound but is below 17 cents per pound, at the rate provided in clause (A) reduced by an amount equal to 75 per centum of the amount by which such market price exceeds 152 cents per pound, on not to exceed five hundred tons per quarter per producer.

(2) No payment shall be made under the provisions of this section to producers of lead when such market price is equal to, or exceeds 17 cents per pound.

(c) (1) Such payments shall be made to producers of zinc, as follows:

(A) As long as the market price for prime western zinc at East Saint Louis, Illinois, as determined by the Secretary, is at or below 132 cents per pound, at the rate of .5500 cent per pound on not to exceed five hundred tons per quarter per producer;

(B) As long as such market price is above 132 cents per pound, but is below 142 cents per pound, at the rate provided in the preceding clause (A) reduced by an amount equal to 55 per centum of the amount by which such market price exceeds 132 cents per pound, on not to exceed five hundred tons per quarter per producer.

(2) No payment shall be made under the provisions of this section to producers of zinc when such market price is equal to or exceeds 142 cents per pound.

(d) Such payments shall be made to any producer of tungsten trioxide who has not sold more than two hundred and fifty units thereof during any quarter, at the rate of $4 per unit on the number of units produced by such producer in such quarter.

SEC. 202. The provisions of this title shall take effect on the first day of the first quarter next following the date of enactment of this Act, and shall terminate on June 30, 1963.

TITLE III

SEC. 301. The Secretary is hereby authorized and directed to establish and maintain a program to purchase not more than one hundred and fifty thousand short tons of refined copper produced from ores mined in the United States, its Territories, and possessions, of such types as he deems desirable meeting the same specifications for purchases of refined copper as are or may be in effect pursuant to the Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act. Such purchases shall be made at the market price, but not to exceed 271⁄2 cents per pound, delivered Connecticut Valley.

SEC. 302. All copper purchased pursuant to the authority of this title shall be turned over to the supplemental stockpile in accordance with the provisions of the Act of July 10, 1954 (Public Law 480, Eighty-third Congress (68 Stat. 454)), as amended.

SEC. 303. The provisions of this title shall take effect upon the date of enactment of this Act, and shall terminate on June 30, 1959.

TITLE IV

SEC. 401. The Secretary is hereby authorized to establish and promulgate such regulations and require such reports as he deems necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, but such regulations shall assure equitable distribution of the benefits of the programs provided by this Act throughout the domestic industries affected.

SEC. 402. The Secretary may delegate any of the functions authorized by this Act to the Administrator of General Services.

SEC. 403. (a) For the purposes of this Act

(1) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior.

(2) The term “producer” means any individual, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity engaged in producing ores or concentrates from domestic mines and in selling the material produced in normal commercial channels.

(3) The term "sale" means a bona fide transfer for value of ores and concentrates from a producer to a processing plant.

(4) The term "domestic mine" means any single operating unit producing ores from properties located within the United States, its Territories, or possessions, and operating in one State or mining district.

(5) The term "newly mined" means domestic material processed into concentrates or severed from the land subsequent to the date of enactment of this Act, but shall not exclude normal inventories of crude ore. The term does not refer to material recovered from mine dumps, mill tailings, or from smelter slags and residues derived from material mined prior to the date of enactment of this Act.

(6) The term "quarter" means the calendar periods commencing on the first day of the months of January, April, July, and October.

(b) For the purposes of sections 103 and 201 of this Act, the Secretary may determine what constitutes a single operating unit producing ores, and, in the event that more than one producer claims payment for sales from production of a single operating unit, the Secretary may determine the quantity of sales for each such producer to which the above limitations shall apply.

(c) For purposes of sections 103 and 201 of this Act, sales of concentrates produced from ores sold to a mill or processing plant in accordance with regulations issued pursuant to this Act shall not be considered as the sales of the owner of the mill, but shall be considered as the sales of the producer of the

ores.

SEC. 404. In order to finance programs authorized under this Act, the Secretary is authorized and empowered to issue to the Secretary of the Treasury notes and obligations in an amount not exceeding $350,000,000 outstanding at any one time. Such notes and other obligations shall be in such forms and denominations,

have such maturities, and be subject to such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided, That such notes and other obligations may be redeemed by the Secretary at his option before maturity in such manner as may be stipulated in such notes or other obligations. Such notes and other obligations shall bear interest at a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury taking into consideration the current average yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States as of the last day of the month preceding the issuance of such notes and other obligations. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to purchase any notes or other obligations issued by the Secretary hereunder and for such purpose the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to use as a public debt transaction the proceeds from the sale of any securities issued under the Second Liberty Bond Act, as amended, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under such Act are extended to include any purchases of such notes and other obligations.

SEC. 405. No payment shall be made under this Act after December 31, 1963. SEC. 406. The Secretary shall make an annual report with respect to operations under this Act as soon as practicable after July 1 of each of the years 1959 to 1963 inclusive to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of Representatives. Any such report shall contain such recommendations as the Secretary may deem appropriate.

SEC. 407. Any person who willfully violates any provision of this Act or any regulation issued under this Act shall upon conviction be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both. Passed the Senate July 11 (legislative day, July 10), 1958. Attest:

FELTON M. JOHNSTON, Secretary.

[H. R. 13270, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL Providing for payments as incentives for the production of certain minerals, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is declared to be the policy of the Congress to provide Federal financial assistance to assure the continuation of production of certain essential minerals within the United States, its Territories and possessions.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed, in order to assure the continuation of production of certain essential minerals within the United States, its Territories and possessions, to establish and maintain a program of payments to domestic producers of those minerals listed in section 3 of this Act, within the limits therein contained, as an incentive for the production of such minerals.

SEC. 3. (a) The production incentive payments authorized by this Act shall be made for the following minerals mined from deposits located within the United States, its Territories and possessions, in the amounts and subject to limitations herein specified:

(1) For beryl concentrates (10 per centum BeO basis), $70 per short ton, with premiums and penalties as set forth in the regulations issued pursuant to section 5 of this Act, for not to exceed an aggregate of one thousand short tons annually. No incentive payment shall be made in a calendar year on a quantity in excess of one hundred and fifty short tons produced by any one producer and originating in any one mining district from properties controlled by such producer.

(2) For commercial grade, metallurgical chromite (46 per centum basis), $35 per long dry ton, with premiums and penalties as set forth in the regulations issued pursuant to section 5 of this Act, for not to exceed an aggregate of fifty thousand long dry tons annually. No incentive payment shall be made in a calendar year on a quantity in excess of ten thousand long dry tons produced by any one producer and originating in any one mining district from properties controlled by such producer.

(3) For commercially acceptable columbium-tantalum concentrates (basis 50 per centum contained combined pentoxides), $2.35 per pound of contained combined pentoxides with ratios of Ta2О.—Cb-Os, premiums and penalties as set forth in regulations issued pursuant to section 5 of this Act, for not to exceed an

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aggregate of fifty thousand pounds annually. No incentive payment shall be made in a calendar year on a quantity in excess of ten thousand pounds produced by any one producer and originating in any one mining district from properties controlled by such producer.

(b) No payment shall be made under this Act for any material produced prior to the date of initiation of the programs authorized herein. The incentive payment programs shall be initiated upon termination of existing purchase programs of the Federal Government for these materials, respectively, under authority of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpiling Act (53 Stat. 811), as amended; the Defense Production Act of 1950 (64 Stat. 798), as amended; and the Domestic Tungsten, Asbestos, Fluorspar and Columbium-Tantalum Production and Purchase Act of 1956 (70 Stat. 579).

(c) No incentive payment shall be made pursuant to the provisions of this Act except upon presentation of evidence satisfactory to the Secretary that the material has been produced and sold in accordance with regulations issued under section 4 of this Act.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Interior may delegate any of the functions conferred upon him by this Act.

SEC. 5. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to issue such rules and regulations as he deems necessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 6. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to present to the Congress, through the President, within two years from the date of this Act, a report containing a review and evaluation of the operations of the programs authorized in this Act, together with his recommendations regarding the need for the continuation of the programs and such amendments to this Act as he deems to be desirable.

SEC. 7. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Mr. ROGERS. The subcommittee is very fortunate this morning to have with us the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, Fred A. Seaton. We wanted to move on with the testimony on these bills as speedily as possible because we do know that we are approaching the adjournment of the Congress, and if anything is to be done for mines and the mining industry in this session there is going to have to be some rather speedy action.

As I understand it, Mr. Secretary, you have a prepared statement. Without objection from the committee, we will let you proceed to give that statement without interruption, following which we will have a question and answer period.

You may, of course, associate yourself with any of the members of your staff that you may desire. You may proceed, Mr. Secretary. STATEMENT OF HON. FRED A. SEATON, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR; ACCOMPANIED BY ROYCE HARDY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR MINERALS RESOURCES; AND JOHN G. LIEBERT, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Secretary SEATON. Mr. Chairman, first I should like to thank you, sir, for your compliment which you have paid us by allowing us to proceed with this statement.

I should like to say, too, that it is a pleasure, and a real pleasure, to appear before this committee.

I recalled to mind that the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Minerals Resources has never been formally presented to this committee, Mr. Chairman, and if I may have that pleasure now, I should like to point out that the gentleman on my right is Mr. Royce

Hardy of the State of Nevada, a very valued and valuable member of the Department of the Interior.

Mr. BARING. Mr. Chairman?

Mr. ROGERS. The gentleman from Nevada.

Mr. BARING. I should like to say that Mr. Royce Hardy is a Nevadan, and we are proud of him.

Mr. ENGLE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that I have known Mr. Hardy for many years, and know his family, and I am glad to see him here.

Mr. HARDY. Thank you.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Hardy, you are well recommended and will be well received any time you come before this committee.

Mr. HARDY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Secretary.

Secretary SEATON. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for some time the Department of the Interior has given a great deal of attention to the long-term outlook in the development of the Nation's mineral resources. If I may, I should like this morning to comment generally along these lines before addressing myself to the specific legislation before you.

In the relatively short space of half a century the demands for minerals and mineral products have grown so rapidly that the problems of maintaining an adequate supply of mineral raw materials have become increasingly critical and complex. Minerals and mineral fuels have become more vital elements than ever before in the security and economic welfare of the Nation.

I wish to emphasize this point because, in the opinion of the Department of the Interior, the long-range problems of the Nation with reference to minerals are likely to be the problems of shortages and rising prices despite current surpluses, weak markets, and distress

in some areas.

In the long run, the growth of our economy will demand a greater and greater supply of minerals and will require our Nation and the other nations of the free world to explore, develop, and make wise use of the mineral resources available to all of us.

RESEARCH

The Department's major contribution to the long-range development of our mineral resources is the basic scientific work of the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines; with which the members of this committee are familiar in general. These two agencies of the Department are carrying on most significant activities designed to aid private industry in doing a more effective job of locating and developing our mineral resources.

These research activities have little appeal in terms of immediate assistance to the segments of the domestic mining industry which are now at low ebb. At the same time, over the long run the Government's research and development activities will make a major contribution to mineral resource development. The long-range problem of our domestic minerals industries can be solved only by the development of better methods of locating new ore bodies, and by improvement in the technology of handling lower grade deposits.