Miners join opposition to 2nd tax reform package

The Philippines is expected to lose billions of pesos in quality investments if the government decides to push through with its plan to slap royalty on all mining operations, the country’s biggest mining group said.

Imposing a five percent royalty on all mining companies, regardless whether they operate within mineral reservation areas or not, will push away international investors in the country, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said.

“If we end up with a mining tax structure that is not competitive, we will not see quality investments in our minerals sector. Why will they still come here?” COMP chairman and Nickel Asia Corp. president Gerard Brimo told reporters on the sidelines of Mining Philippines 2018 yesterday.

“We want to attract companies that are large, technically knowledgeable, have a lot of resources and can do things properly. But they will not come here if the tax structure is too expensive,” he added.

The proposal to impose royalty on all metallic and nonmetallic mining operations is now moving in Congress.

Currently, only those operating in the nine mineral reservation areas in the Philippines are levied.

Mining royalty tax represents five percent of the market value of the gross output of the minerals produced by mining companies within a declared mineral reservation area.

Brimo said the proposed measure would make the Philippines a much expensive investment climate compared to the world’s large mining countries including Chile, Canada, Australia and Peru.