4      Election for unincorporated body of persons

(1)     Notwithstanding subsection (2), if an unincorporated body of persons—

(a)     consists of two or more members;

(b)     of which one or more members hold a prospecting right, retention permit, exploration right, mining right, mining permit or production right granted pursuant to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (or a lease or sublease mentioned in section 11 of that Act in respect of such a right); and

[Paragraph (b) substituted by section 271 read with paragraph 184 of Sch. 1 of Act 28 of 2011]

(c)     wins or recovers a mineral resource originating from within the Republic,

all the members of that unincorporated body may elect that the unincorporated body is deemed to be a person for the purposes of this Act, the Royalty Act and the Income Tax Act as applied to the Royalty Act.

[Subsection (1) substituted by section 35(1) of Act 8 of 2010 deemed effective on 1 March, 2010]

(2)     On the day on which the members of an unincorporated body make an election as mentioned in subsection (1) all the members of that unincorporated body must elect a year of assessment in respect of that unincorporated body and that year of assessment must be the same year of assessment as that of a member of that unincorporated body.

(3)     If the members of an unincorporated body made an election mentioned in subsection (1)—

(a)     the liabilities and duties imposed under this Act and the Royalty Act in respect of that unincorporated body must be applied and performed by that unincorporated body separately from the members of that unincorporated body;

(b)     any other actions that are permitted by a person registered under this Act in respect of that unincorporated body must be performed by that unincorporated body separately from the members of that unincorporated body; and

(c)     section 10 of the Royalty Act applies to that unincorporated body for as long as that unincorporated body is deemed to be a person by virtue of the election made in terms of subsection (1).

(4)     Each member of an unincorporated body that made an election mentioned in subsection (1) is liable jointly and severally with the other members of that unincorporated body for—

(a)     the duties of that unincorporated body under this Act and the Royalty Act;

(b)     the royalty imposed under the Royalty Act on that unincorporated body in respect of all mineral resources transferred by that unincorporated body, while the member was a member of that unincorporated body.

(5)    If—

(a)     an unincorporated body of which the members made an election mentioned in subsection (1) is dissolved solely as a result of—

(i)      the retirement, withdrawal or death of one or more members of that unincorporated body; or

(ii)      the admission of a new member to that unincorporated body; and

(b)     the new unincorporated body which is brought into being as a result of the dissolution mentioned in paragraph (a) satisfies the requirements of subsection (1)(a) and (b),

the election made by the members of the dissolved unincorporated body as mentioned in subsection (1) remains in effect for purposes of the new unincorporated body notwithstanding that dissolution.

(6)     All the members of an unincorporated body that made an election mentioned in subsection (1) may at any time elect to terminate the registration of that unincorporated body effective on the day after the last day of the year of assessment in which that election was made.

[Section 4 substituted by section 63(1) of Act 18 of 2009 effective on 1 November, 2009]