Australia's resource-rich state of Queensland has hiked
taxes on coal miners on Tuesday, aiming to raise up to A$1.6 billion ($1.66
billion) in extra revenue.
Queensland's Liberal National Party (LNP) government
will increase the rate on coal royalties to 12.5 % for prices between A$100 and
A$150 per tonne and to 15 % for anything higher. The current rate is 10 % on
prices above A$100 a tonne.
The state government said it would then give the industry
certainty by guaranteeing no change to royalty rates for the following 10
years.
The announcement comes just a day after miners announced
cutbacks to deal with falling prices and rising costs. Top global miners BHP
Billiton and Xstrata Plc had said on Monday they were cutting output and
shedding about 900 jobs at high-cost mines, the latest in a series of cutbacks
and investment delays sparked by slowing growth in top consumer China.
The hike in royalty rates drew a predictable response from
the mining industry.
“The worse-than-feared hike in coal royalties announced
in Queensland budget means more job losses, the risk of further mine closures
and the near certainty that numerous major new coal projects will not see the
light of day,” said Michael Roche, chief executive of Queensland Resources
Council, an industry body representing the mining firms.
The tax hike will likely make planned developments in
Queensland's remote Galilee Basin, a so-far untapped reserve, less viable in
the short-term, as well as threaten higher cost producers.
Source: Reuters
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