Posted on 08/16/2013 5:56:18 AM PDT by rellimpank
The mining industry is at a breaking point as calls from governments and workers for a greater cut of profits hasten an investor exodus, Gold Fields Ltd. said.
Governments in particular are seeing mining as a means of putting more into their central coffers, Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland said today in a speech in Johannesburg. A lot of it has come about because of the metal boom that weve seen. The equity model is at breaking point, he said in an accompanying slide show.
Australia, Namibia and Zimbabwe are among nations that have sought to expand their share of profits from natural resources in the past three years by raising mining taxes or favoring state control of projects. In South Africa, where Gold Fields is based, labor unions, companies and the government are vying for a larger share of revenues even as commodity prices slide.
(Excerpt) Read more at mineweb.com ...
I didn't pull this out of my hat but it came from a conversation with my now deceased diesel wonk that the savings would be in the Tens of Thousands of dollars per day in the uber big mines.
This would give them increased margins to stay in business, if they can get capital for the conversions or have it in reserve...
Further reducing supply....
http://www.silverdoctors.com/10-of-us-annual-silver-supply-just-vaporized/
--I did see that the North Dakota folks (Bakken formation) are starting the process of converting to NG engines ---
Looks like a highly tinted river of dirt.
You find the gold:
You dig it out:
We take the profit.
That’s Government.
Hypothetical....why would anyone report gold from mining if it’s going to be taxed away from them? It’s not like gold can be “tagged” as to its source and date of mining.
— the above post of the Bingham Canyon slide should illustrate why it is difficult to hide a large mine——from the tax man or anyone else-—
I believe the old days when you picked up a few nuggets off the ground are mostly in peoples memories.
Today it take moving a lot of dirt to follow a vein. A lot of workers and a vast outfit to mine what gold is there.
Permits to open a mine and people (worker)to be paid.
Probably impossible to get any real amount of gold without letting the Government know.
Socialism consumes everything.
If you still have something, wait a minute. They just haven’t gotten to you yet.
In those countries that have even speculated about nationalizing the mines, the mining companies should immediately preposition explosive charges in the mines to guarantee that if the mines are snatched, they will be worthless without a LOT of investment to clear and re-shore them.
They might even consider swapping out their high quality water pumps and air systems with much cheaper, high maintenance, lower life ones, and moving the good ones out of the country.
Last, to protect their investors, which is a good long term policy, do a 1:1 equity swap with a special equity that is 100% backed, essentially insured, outside of the country, so the most they could lose would be say, 1% of current value.
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