IBA Annual Conference Sydney 2017

8 Oct - 13 Oct 2017

Room C2.6, Convention Centre, Level 2

Session information

Mineral royalties: lessons from international experiences

Wednesday 11 October (0930 - 1230)

Room C2.6, Convention Centre, Level 2

Committee(s)

Mining Law Committee (Lead)
Oil and Gas Law Committee
Taxes Committee

Description

Mineral royalties are one of the most challenging issues that the international mining industry has been debating for quite some time. In times of high commodity prices, mining companies – major, juniors, state-owned, local and international – take their exploration and production activities into all kinds of countries, ones with little mining experience, others with a long mining history. What we witnessed when commodity prices were high was a movement by a number of countries to introduce new regulations for royalties. Countries with no or little mining tradition were aiming to collect their share from investors. Governments of jurisdictions with years of experience in mining were responding to the public perception that mining companies should contribute further. With the downturn, these same countries are reviewing previous decisions and changes. The truth is that governments never believe that they are taxing too much, companies rarely agree that they pay too little and the public, in most cases, doesn’t believe the benefits from royalty payments are what they should be. This session will attempt to discuss experiences from different jurisdictions on devising, assessing, paying and accounting for royalties. It will also debate the relation of mining royalties to the overall tax system, its role in attracting new investments and benefiting affected communities, as well as mechanisms to ensure transparency, governance and management of royalty revenues by governments.

Session / Workshop Chair(s)

Catherine Boggs RCF Management LLC, Other City, Colorado, USA
Carlos Vilhena Pinheiro Neto Advogados, Brasilia, Brazil; Senior Vice Chair, Mining Law Committee

Speakers

Professor Barry Barton The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Stuart Brown Esso Australia PTY Ltd, Southbank, Victoria, Australia
Hon Cheryl Lynn Edwardes LL.M. Cheryl Edwardes Legal, Other City, Western Australia, Australia; Deputy Chair, Environment, Health and Safety Law Committee
Professor Pietro Guj University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia