Solid minerals mining: how can the investment potential of the industry be utilized most effectively?

4 September 2019

Solid minerals mining: how can the investment potential of the industry be utilized most effectively?

KEY CONCLUSIONS

State is actively adopting measures for improving investment attractiveness of Russian industry

“What has been done recently, what support measures have been adopted: these are co-financing of infrastructure construction as part of investment projects approved by the government; subsidizing of interest rates for crediting; provision of government guarantees,” Dmitry Kobylkin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

“I would like to congratulate all Russian legislative authorities, as all new developments and proposed legislation are being adopted pretty fast, including those referring to technologies and operations in industrial capacity management,” Claude Schimper, Senior Vice-President, Russia Operations, Kinross Gold Corporation.

“We can actually feel not just liberalization, but legislation becoming more grounded, more satisfying, practical, more applicable. Undoubtedly, it is the key factor for the industry development,” Pavel Grachev, Chief Executive Officer, Polyus.

Far East has a huge investment potential

“An enormous territory, deposits that are unique in size and contents, low competition, good regulation both on federal and regional levels: all these aspects form a unique investment environment. There are no other places like this in the world,” Roman Trotsenko, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, AEON Corporation.

“Since we have studied the global mining industry over the last 15 years, I believe that Russia, and particularly its Far Eastern region, is one of the most promising in the world. <…> There are huge opportunities in any field in the Far East: diamonds, gold, copper, coal, mineral fertilizers,” Shiv Vikram Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group.

PROBLEMS

Imperfection of regulatory control in the industry

“It is crucial that when a new investor comes, they clearly understand what permits they should obtain from what authorities. Because for ages we have had such legislation that new investors coming to the country not always understand what permits they need, who is responsible for them, and how much time it requires,” Oleg Novachuk, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KAZ Minerals.

“If we compare legislation for liquid and for solid minerals, we see that our colleagues from the ‘liquid’ legislation and those who lobbied for it, have solved many issues. Working at the Federation Council, in our committee we tried to transfer these novelties that make the life easier for those working in oil and gas to solid minerals, but we never succeeded. <…> It would be really groundbreaking and democratic to give us equal rights,” Pavel Maslovskiy, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Petropavlovsk.

“The industry is under the common taxation scheme; it works in the form of property tax. <…> If we talk about a new enterprise, it is huge amount of money. <…> It is one of significant restrictions for the industry. In fact, it is a tax for new property, which means that this tax demotivates modernization,” Roman Trotsenko, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, AEON Corporation.

Lack of attention to geological exploration

“Exploration of a considerable part of resources was carried out in the Soviet times. Many major Russian companies use those results. <…> Back then technologies were far from what we have now. If we carried out proper exploration in the Far East, I think we could mine 10 times more resources than we do today,” Shiv Vikram Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group.

SOLUTIONS

Ensuring stable and transparent regulation of the industry

“Another opportunity for attracting foreign investment is stability, clear established rules for taxation and fiscal policies. It is a crucial factor that we take into account when deciding on further investment in this region,” Claude Schimper, Senior Vice-President, Russia Operations, Kinross Gold Corporation.

Fostering geological exploration

“A double increasing co-efficient for expenses on exploration should be introduced. Today increment of reserves is slower than their recovery. It means that we lag behind. Therefore, companies should be interested in spending more on exploration,” Roman Trotsenko, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, AEON Corporation.

“The abovementioned initiative on expanding the principle of declarative order for receiving subsoil for geological exploration on P1 and P2 categories <…> today is not fully used due to the existing restrictions on the size of available plots: no more than three plots of 100 square kilometres. Given current circumstances and the scale of the Far East, it is clearly not enough. <…> At the stage of geological exploration, area may be and should be much larger,” Pavel Grachev, Chief Executive Officer, Polyus.

Increasing regions’ interest in development of the mining industry

“One of the areas that can be of interest for regions concerning the industry development is dividing severance tax, increasing its part that regions benefit from. Because today regions’ interest remains hypothetical,” Roman Trotsenko, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, AEON Corporation.

For more information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical System at roscongress.org/en.

Solid minerals mining: how can the investment potential of the industry be utilized most effectively?

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