Following in the footsteps of many resource-rich nations Mozambique is also planning to amend its old mining laws. Mining Minister Esperanca Bias confirmed this in a recent interview, saying the government was having discussions with all stakeholders.
The Mozambique government began talks with mining firms, affected communities and civil organizations three months ago. Many issues were under discussion including issues such as timeframes for mining production to start and for the government to receive royalties from mining.
The Minister said that if the company says it will take two years to start production, he wanted that company to start production in two years. If the company must pay royalties, he wanted to have these royalties. If they could have 5-10 percent royalties, why not? But they would not do anything without discussing with the mining companies active in Mozambique.
When asked which minerals would be affected the minister said that they were looking at getting a percentage in coal mining, uranium, gold and other minerals, but they hadn't concluded the revisions and were still only at the discussion stage. He added that the law could be revised as early as the end of the year.
Currently Mozambique levies a 35 percent corporate tax on miners currently and royalties are low. Miners are also subject to a production tax of 10 to 12 percent for diamonds and 3 to 8 percent for other minerals. Mozambique also has no local ownership or equity requirements for miners and it is unclear if that could be subject to change.