Australian Miners Restart Anti-Tax Ads

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

27 July 2010

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) has decided to recommence its press advertisements against the Australian government’s proposed mining tax.

Simon Bennison, AMEC’s chief executive, said that “in a gesture of good faith we ceased our media campaign in June against the government`s proposed new mining tax, however, the time has now come to re-launch our campaign.”

At the beginning of July, the government decided to introduce a minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) that appeared to be more acceptable to the country’s largest mining companies, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, than the more onerous resource super profits tax.

AMEC’s membership mainly consists of Australia’s small and medium-sized mining and exploration companies that now feel they have not been consulted in deciding the terms of the MRRT. “The Prime Minister said that the government was going to open the doors to the mining industry and asked the industry to do the same,” Bennison said. “However, all that has happened is a secret deal has been done with three multi-national mining companies, to the exclusion of 99% of the industry, with the result that only a two page document has been produced which lists the general principles for a new mining tax.”

He pointed out that AMEC has tried unsuccessfully to hold meaningful meetings with the government on several occasions since the announcement of the conditions of the MRRT. He wanted to “pose a number of questions and concerns raised by our mid cap mining and junior explorer members that need to be addressed by the government.”

He added that “these concerns need to be answered now, and not put into a committee process which is expected to go through until December. In the absence of any detail, we seek to have the proposed mining tax withdrawn until full and transparent industry consultation has occurred.”

In particular AMEC’s members still believe that “the tax is unfair, unjust, poorly designed, complex, inefficient and discriminatory” and that “it does not promote minerals exploration, project development or economic growth”. In the absence of a meaningful resolution by the government of its members concerns, Bennison disclosed that AMEC has been “provided a mandate to re-commence a national multi media advertising campaign”.

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