Mining Taxation

This book examines existing mineral fiscal policies covering income taxation, royalties, free carried and participative (community and government) interests and also highlights the impacts of these policies on the feasibility of mineral projects as well as on revenue and other benefits to the State. While publications already exist on the subject matter, they have invariably approached the topic primarily from a Government standpoint rather than the mining industry. This book aims to provide a balance in this debate by comparing the financial outcomes gained or foregone by both Government and industry under different policy regimes. The discussions are supported by quantitative examples to more clearly articulate the potential outcomes and better inform future fiscal policy decisions.

Auteur

Dr Eric Lilford is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in the field of Mineral Economics, within the Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) in the Faculty of Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering at Curtin University. His interests lie in the analysis and quantification of the impacts that regulations and policies have on the development and sustainability of resources developments. Prior to his recent academic appointment at Curtin, Dr Lilford has held roles including being CEO or Executive of mining companies where he has negotiated, evaluated and managed the structuring and development of many different mining and exploration projects, for a variety of commodities, mostly across Africa. His engineering and mineral economics expertise are combined with his intimate understanding of the emerging market resources industry, from both the political and business viewpoints.

Dr Pietro Guj is a Research Professor at the Centre for Exploration Targeting, at the University of Western Australia and an Adjunct Professor in Mineral Economics at Curtin University's Graduate School of Business. These academic roles were preceded by a distinguished career in the exploration and mining industry, in Asia, Africa and Australia both in industry and Government. He held the role of Deputy Director General of the Department of Minerals and Energy and Executive Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia after a few years as a finance executive for the Water Authority of WA. Dr Guj's main interests are in project evaluation, risk and decision analysis as applied to the mineral industry and in the formulation and administration of internationally competitive resources regulatory and fiscal regimes; fields in which he has lectured, published and consulted widely internationally. In recent years, Dr Guj has been retained by the World Bank to direct research and capacity building programs designed to improve mining taxation policy and administration frameworks. The most recent of these projects addressed the fiscal challenge of transfer pricing in the context of mineral-rich developing countries, with particular emphasis on Africa.

Dr Lilford and Dr Guj are also members of a team that recently won the Australia Award Africa for the delivery of comprehensive intensive training programmes in Mineral and Energy Economics over the period 2018 - 2022.

Contenu
ForewordAcknowledgementsPrecis1 Mineral Policy, Governance and its Economic Implications1.1 Government mineral and economic policy versus corporate financial objectives1.2 The concept of mineral economic rent1.3 Mining taxation principles and objectives1.4 Components of a mining taxation package1.5 Legislating for local participation: Participative and free-carry interests1.6 Trends in mining fiscal regime development 2 Quantitative Financial Analysis of Common Mining Taxation Instruments2.1 Analytical methodology2.2 Different types of mineral royalties and mining-specific corporate income tax provisions2.3 Royalties: Comparing the Government's and the Operator's position2.4 Government free carried interest: Analysing the benefits to Government and costs to industry2.5 Government participative interests: Comparing the Government's with the Operator's outcomes2.6 Analysing the revenue impact of fiscal incentives to attract investment2.7 Taxing instruments in petroleum fiscal regimes2.8 Discussion and ideas 3 Administering the Mining Fiscal Regime3.1 Main mining tax administration issues3.2 Mining as a global business3.3 Foreign investment attraction and fiscal incentives3.4 Stability agreements and sovereign risk minimisation3.5 Return on investment and repatriation of capital and profits3.6 Tax minimisation strategies through cross-border transactions between related parties: Transfer pricing, tax rate arbitrage, treaty shopping3.7 Withholding taxes and other Government defensive mechanisms3.8 Workable solutions to improve mining taxation collection and administration frameworks Conclusions and RecommendationsReferencesAppendices