P.R. Laws tit. 28, § 91f
The Corporation shall have the power to prospect for, develop, refine, process, exploit, sell or otherwise utilize the mineral resources of Puerto Rico, adjacent islands, its surrounding waters and submerged lands.
The Corporation is hereby granted and it shall have and may exercise all the necessary and convenient powers to carry out the aforesaid purpose, including, but without limitation, the following:
(a) To have perpetual existence as a Corporation.
(b) To adopt, alter and use a corporate seal.
(c) To prescribe, adopt, amend and repeal bylaws establishing the manner in which its business shall be conducted and how the powers conferred and the duties imposed may be exercised and fulfilled. The Corporation shall not carry out any business or transaction involving the acquisition or alienation of assets, except when conducted pursuant to the procedure established by the bylaws. The bylaws concerning the acquisition and alienation of assets shall be approved by the Governor and shall establish in what cases or circumstances the transactions or businesses shall require the approval of the Governor to be valid.
(d) To have complete control and supervision over each and every one of its properties and activities, including the power of determining the nature and necessity of all its expenditures and the manner in which they shall be incurred, permitted and paid, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and with the regulations approved for these purposes. Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed as a limitation of the powers granted to the Controller of Puerto Rico by the Constitution and existing laws.
(e) To sue and be sued; to complain and defend itself in all the courts of justice and administrative organizations, subject, nevertheless, to the limitation on liability established in § 91c of this title.
(f) To enter into and execute agreements, leases, contracts and other instruments necessary and convenient for the exercise of the powers and functions conferred hereunder to the Corporation, with any person, firm, corporation, federal agency and with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and any of its political subdivisions, agencies or instrumentalities.
(g) To acquire any kind of property and rights therein, by any lawful means, including, without limitation, acquisition by purchase, either by agreement or through the exercise of the right of eminent domain granted herein, or by lease, bequest, legacy, gift or donation, and to possess, maintain, lease, use and operate any project or enterprise or parts thereof.
(h) To carry out, by itself or through other natural or [juridical] persons all the necessary and convenient activities related to the purposes of the Corporation, including but not limited to:
(1) Prospecting for, development and exploitation of mineral resources.
(2) Refining, processing, use and transformation of mineral resources and their byproducts.
(3) Sale, marketing, distribution and any other disposal of mineral resources and their byproducts.
(i) To accept and administer any appropriate gift or donation.
(j) To appoint and hire the services of officers, agents, employees and professional and technical personnel and to give them such powers and duties and to pay them such compensation for their services as the Board may determine.
(k) To fix and authorize the payment of per diems and reimbursement of expenses to its officers, employees, agents and Board members.
(l) To borrow money, to make and issue bonds of the Corporation for any of its purposes, and to secure payment of its bonds and of any of its other obligations by pignoration or encumbrance of all or any of its contracts, revenues and income.
(m) To issue bonds for the purpose of consolidating, refinancing, purchasing, paying or redeeming any of its outstanding subrogated or issued bonds or debentures.
(n) To sell or otherwise dispose of any property or interest therein which in the judgment of the Board is no longer necessary to conduct the business of the Corporation or to achieve the purposes of this chapter.
(o) To create subsidiaries.
(p) To contract with any department, agency or officer of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or with any private person or entity with respect to the administration of any property or facility of the Corporation, under such terms and conditions as it may deem convenient. In the case of contracts executed with the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, the proper measures shall be taken to maintain the operational identity of each one of the contracting entities.
(q) To acquire, maintain and dispose of the capital stock, memberships, contracts, bonds or other interest in corporations or other entities and to exercise all the powers and rights related thereto.
(r) To lend money to any person, firm, corporation or other organization when said money is to be used to carry out the purposes of the Corporation under this chapter. Any loans that may be made shall be evidenced by promissory notes, bonds, debentures, securities, convertible debentures, trust certificates, securities received from the issuing organization and other obligations or evidences of indebtedness of said borrowers. The Corporation may retain, negotiate or otherwise dispose of all or any of said instruments.
(s) To enter into financial agreements and joint ventures with any person, firm, corporation, or other organization for the development of any project under the terms and conditions that may be determined by the Board.
(t) To request, receive, retain, and transfer (with the approval of the agencies concerned) leases, authorizations and licenses.
(u) To exercise such other corporate powers not incompatible with the provisions herein, as are conferred to the corporations under the laws of Puerto Rico and to carry out all acts or things necessary or convenient to exercise the powers granted to it by this or any other act of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Provided, however, That the Corporation shall have no power to pledge the credit of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The exercise by this Corporation of the aforesaid powers shall be subject to the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and specifically, but without limitation, to §§ 151 et seq. of Title 3 and §§ 110 et seq. of this title.
History —July 2, 1975, No. 145, p. 433, § 7.