This Act establishes the People’s Small‑Scale Mining Program, setting out State policy to promote, develop and regulate viable small‑scale mining with a view to employment generation and equitable resource use. It defines key terms and institutional roles, provides for the identification and reservation of small‑scale mining areas (including recognition of prior rights and safeguards for ancestral lands), and regulates access through cooperative organization and the award of time‑bound mining contracts subject to approved plans and compliance with safety, environmental and reporting requirements. The Act further governs rights and revenue‑sharing arrangements involving claimowners, landowners and local governments, centralizes the sale of gold, regulates processing facilities, establishes a protection fund for training and emergency response, and designates provincial and city mining regulatory boards as implementing authorities, with penalties for violations.