Western Australia May Ask BHP, Rio to Cash Out Iron Ore Levy
- Debt-laden state seeks advice on one-off windfall from miners
- Premier says looking at options to fix ‘catastrophic’ budget
Dump trucks operate in an open pit at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, jointly owned by Rio Tinto Group's Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. unit and state-owned Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC, in Khanbogd, the South Gobi desert, Mongolia, on Saturday, July 23, 2016. Mongolia exported 817,000 tons of copper concentrate in the first half of the year compared with 663,800 tons a year earlier, an increase of 23.1 percent.
Photographer: Taylor Weidman/BloombergWestern Australia may ask Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. to pay potentially billions of dollars to end a mining rent tax to help patch a budget decimated by lower commodity prices.
The state government is seeking advice on a proposal that would see the nation’s two biggest miners pay out an iron-ore levy early in a one-off lump sum, State Premier Mark McGowan said Sunday. The opposition National Party last week said in parliament that such a plan could raise as much as A$4 billion ($3 billion) for the state, which hosts the giant Pilbara iron ore mines.