Queensland's Metallica Minerals joined the chorus of protest against the Government's proposed resource super profits tax saying its imposition put at risk a planned USD 700 million nickel project in the Greenvale district southwest of Townsville.
Mr Andrew Gillies CEO of Metallica said that if this stupid tax does come in, it threatens the project. His comments came as global mining giants continued to pour scorn on the controversial tax and Prime Minister Mr Kevin Rudd hosed down reports that the Government was about to make some concessions.
Mr Gillies said that there would still be weeks and probably months of consultation with the mining sector. But Mr Jac Nasser chairman of BHP Billiton said that the tax needed to be radically redesigned or otherwise be scrapped and Mr Mick Davis CEO of Xstrata said that tinkering' at the edges would not be enough.
Both Mr Nasser and Mr Davis said that the Government still had not allowed consultation to take place on the key issues with the tax, with Mr Davis singling out its application to existing investments and the 40% rate.
Mr David said that tinkering at the margins will not avoid the significant long term damage this tax could do to mining investment in Australia.
Mr Nasser said that substantive redesign of the resource super profits tax was necessary and if this can't address its fundamental failings, it should be abandoned. He rejected one reported compromise plan making the tax more like the existing petroleum resource rent tax which has applied to offshore oil and gas projects since 1987.
He said that the petroleum and minerals industries were very different and applying a PRRT style tax to minerals would still result in deferrals and cancellations of Australian mining projects.
US coal giant Peabody Energy, which operates 8 mines in Australia, said that it had slowed work on 5 expansion projects because of the proposed tax.
Ms Jennifer Morgans spokeswoman of Peabody said that as we're reviewing the new potential working environment as a result of the tax, progress on our expansions has slowed. The timing and the eventuality of those investments depend on the operating environment.
(Sourced from Couriermail.com)
