President Obama changes his mind on mining royalties

Last week, the Las Vegas Sun put the spotlight on President Obama’s morphing opinion on mining in Nevada. Noting his previous support for mining, the article discussed the president’s 2008 visit to Elko, where he told residents that he was unhappy with proposals to put royalties on minerals mining companies and stated, “I will make sure to maintain the industry here in Elko.”

Since then, the Obama administration has put forward a budget proposing both a 5 percent royalty tax on minerals mining and a 7.8 cent-per-ton “dirt tax.”

According to National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston, increasing the already high costs of mining in the United States would have an adverse effect on the economy. “The U.S. is already a high-cost mining country due to labor, environmental control and safety-related costs. These taxes would have made the U.S. noncompetitive in world markets for mining investment, causing jobs to move off-shore and making the U.S. even more dependent on outside sources for the minerals we use.”

Read more here.