A couple of weeks ago, I was in Lima, Peru, attending the Mining & Investment Latin America Summit. I heard from a number of industry leaders that mining in South America has become more challenging in recent years. One of the biggest reasons why is that the burden for taking care of local communities has, in many cases, fallen on the miners’ shoulders.
Venezuela’s corrupt socialist president Nicolas Maduro continues to destabilize and finance radicalism throughout the continent using revenue from narcotics, and mining companies often end up having to pay the price.
Chilean lawmakers, for instance, are considering a new tax on mining and mineral extraction to address the country’s social unrest I described earlier.
As you can imagine, this could discourage speculation in the junior mining area. Think of it this way: What if your gambling or lottery winnings were taxed at 50 percent or higher? I suspect there would be fewer people headed to Las Vegas or buying lotto tickets.
But Latin America isn’t the only region causing uncertainty for miners. Late last month, British Columbia (BC) became the first Canadian province to pass legislation based on the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP. Intended to end “discrimination and conflict” and ensure “more economic justice and fairness,” UNDRIP has some BC-based mining companies wondering if their rights to extract minerals on lands once inhabited by Native peoples could be undermined.
For the rest of this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/11/18/miners-are-facing-challenges-globally/#60ec23022926