The Minerals Council of Australia’s (MCA) Victorian branch said the 2023 State Budget will support and facilitate mining projects to promote regional development and embed Victoria into renewable energy supply chains.
MCA Victoria said establishing an earth resources approvals coordinator will provide strategic project facilitation to help complex mining projects navigate through the array of legislative acts, regulators, and different tiers of government, and will deliver much needed investments in regional Victoria.
It also welcomes the State Government’s commitment to facilitate the pipeline of new critical minerals and important existing mines through complex approvals processes.
The $23.2 million in resources initiatives were also welcomed and described as a positive example of the State Government working with the resources industry to get critical minerals projects underway.
However, MCA Victoria is concerned about tax rises.
“The additional payroll tax is a tax increase on Victorian mines comes at a bad time for increasing confidence for new investment in Australian mining,” MCA Victoria executive director James Sorahan said.
“This tax increase will be an additional burden on the very businesses that kept the Australian economy from a prolonged recession as the nation battled COVID-19.”
Sorahan said Victorian mining is estimated to pay $140 million in royalties in 2022-23, on top of various fees and charges imposed by mining.
“Victoria needs a broader economic base and a more diverse economy. Development of the pipeline of critical minerals projects would mean more mines, more jobs and generate royalties to fund state services and enable sustained Budget repair,” Sorahan said.
Sorahan said Victoria is emerging as a major supplier of mineral sands and rare earths with several advanced projects in the pipeline, which could double the number of mines in the state.
“Developing Victoria’s projects in mineral sands, copper and zinc, as well as exploration projects in gold, base metals, rare earth elements and lithium, will help reduce inequality in regional areas and provide a much need boost to regional Victoria,” Sorahan said.