AAP reported that junior iron ore miners are displeased the new mining tax does not include an exploration incentive and does not allow for a tax deduction for infrastructure investments.

The chiefs of Fortescue Metals Group Limited, Atlas Iron Limited, BC Iron Limited, FerrAus Limited and Brockman Resources Limited all said that they welcomed the compromises contained in the new mining tax but more could have been done.

At a media conference in Perth they all said they were angry that the Ms Gillard government had not consulted them prior to announcing the revised tax. They would now petition resources minister Mr Martin Ferguson for further changes, when he visits Perth on Monday.

The exploration rebate contained in the previously proposed resource super profits tax has been scrapped. And while the miners previously complained that it carried no weight with financiers, they now say the new minerals resource rent tax should have included some form of an exploration incentive.

Mr Simon Bennison CEO of Association of Mining and Exploration Companies said that federal government went back on an election promise to introduce a flow-through share scheme. The scheme, which operates in Canada, allows shareholders to claim a tax deduction for investing in mining exploration companies.

Mr Bennison said that the key issue for us and the exploration sector was access to equity finance through, as they have promised, a flow-through shares arrangement. It was in their pre election platform in 2007 and they obviously won't deliver on that.

Mr Andrew Forrest CEO of Fortescue Metals, whose company has constructed a large infrastructure network in Western Australia's Pilbara region, said that he was disappointed that the new mining tax did not allow for the deductibility for infrastructure investments. He said that infrastructure is out and it should be in. The government should put infrastructure into that capital base.

Mr Forrest said that junior and mid tier miners had been disadvantaged by the new tax deal that had been thrashed out with mining majors BHP Billiton Limited, Rio Tinto Limited and Xstrata. If you have a flat uplift rate above the commonwealth bond rate, you are in fact favoring the major companies.

He said that "You're favoring multinationals who can source borrowings from anywhere around the world at the lowest possible cost. The developing sector if we're going to be fair dinkum about fairness - should have a floating rate above a company's true cost of borrowings. Then you have a level playing field."

Mr Mike Young MD of BC Iron said that it was insulting that the federal government had called the major miners ignorant and liars when the tax debate first flared up and now they've done a deal with them.

Mr David Flanagan MD of Atlas said that iron ore miners had been hit with a new tax just when they were having their day in the sun amid higher prices for the steel making commodity. He said that iron ore miners had been punished for picking the right commodity at the right time.

(Sourced from AAP)