Diggers & Dealers views on MRRT

The MRRT is still a current issue for the mining industry, and will continue to be after the election if Labor is returned to office.

I was at Diggers and Dealers in Kalgoorlie at the beginning of August and there were many comments from mining chiefs that are worth posting.

Andrew Forrest, CEO of Fortescue Metals, spoke out strongly. “We in the mining industry know how to grow the industry. We employ tens of thousands of Australia people who become PAYE taxpayers. We are better at investing our profits than anyone in Canberra. If the MRRT had been in force five years ago, none of Fortescue would have happened.”

He ran a competition at the event to see who could invent the best slogan to get the miners’ anti-tax advertising campaign back on track. The prize was A$5,000 worth of his company’s shares. There was huge response - the winning phrase being “Monster Rort Rushed Through.”

Mike Young, the MD of BC Iron, said his company couldn’t model the impact of MRRT on their bottom line because Treasury didn’t know the details. The company is supposed to ship its first iron ore from Burkina Nullagine at the end of this year.

Australia Pacific president of Barrick Gold, Gary Halverson, when asked what his head office in Toronto thought of the tax, said that “It doesn’t help us create growth here.”

David Flanagan, MD of Atlas Iron also criticised the unfairness of the MRRT. He said that the proposal had created great uncertainly and was hampering negotiations with Chinese and Indian investors for the future development of the company.

Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe criticised Australia’s MRRT, arguing that Mongolia, where Ivanhoe is developing several projects, will become a threat to Australia’s international standing in the international coal industry.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t a single voice in favour of the tax! 

Author - Gary Linton - Managing Director, Prospect Consulting