April 14, 2015 – Page 2 – Republic of Mining

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Organization asks auditor general to investigate mining sector

Ontario’s mining royalties are “pitifully low” said MiningWatch Canada in an open letter to Ontario’s auditor general. The organization has asked Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk to exercise her office’s “value-for-money” mandate to evaluate the province’s review of its Mineral Development Strategy.

“Pitifully low mining royalties, very low corporate taxes, direct and indirect subsidies, give-away prices on electricity, unaccounted social and environmental costs, and hundreds of millions of dollars in mine site clean-up costs are all major concerns,” wrote Ugo Lapointe, MiningWatch Canada’s program co-ordinator, in his open letter to Lysyk.

Lapointe said mining companies in Ontario have generated more than $93.3 billion in gross revenues over the last 10 years, but the province has only received 1.5 per cent of that amount in royalties.

“We could learn from some of the First Nations, that are very good negotiators with mining companies,” Lapointe said. During his 2014 municipal election campaign, Sudbury mayoral candidate John Rodriguez said the city could get at least $30 million in mining royalties per year, if it were to strike a deal with the province to get a fair cut.

http://www.wsj.com/

Counties in West Virginia, elsewhere lay off employees and weigh consolidating schools amid dwindling revenues tied to coal mining

Just three years ago, Nicholas County in West Virginia had eight working mines and took in $1.2 million from coal-related tax revenue. Today, just one mine is still churning out coal. The county’s share of the state’s taxes on coal mining, partly based on local production and county population, plummeted to about $100,000 in 2014.

County officials recently responded by laying off 20 employees, including four police officers, meaning there won’t be any officers on duty after 4 p.m., the sheriff said. An additional 74 employees will take a 20% pay cut. A spokesman for the state police said more troopers will be assigned to patrol the county.

“For the first time that anybody alive can remember, we’re having to lay off some county employees,” said Ken Altizer, president of the Nicholas County Commission. “The biggest reason is the coal severance,” he said, referring to taxes on the amount of coal extracted, or “severed,” from the ground.

For decades, severance taxes paid by coal companies helped fill the coffers of coalfield communities throughout Central Appalachia—roughly encompassing southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southern Virginia. The money helped pay for road and sewer projects, parks, libraries, Little Leagues and more.

Ontario mining royalties ‘pitifully low’: MiningWatch Canada – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – April 13, 2015)

Appalachian Communities Scraping By as Coal Taxes Drop – by Kris Maher (Wall Street Journal – April 10, 2015)