Peru to present mining royalty bill in 2 weeks

[miningmx.com] — PERU’S new leftist government plans to send a closely watched proposal to increase mining royalties to Congress in the next two weeks, the country’s finance minister said on Thursday.

If passed, the bill would replace the current royalty system and payments would be based on operating profits rather than sales, Minister Luis Miguel Castilla said, reaffirming previous government and industry statements.

“We will likely have the norm in Congress in the next two weeks and we hope it will be approved quickly and implemented immediately,” Castilla told foreign journalists.

Prime Minister Salomon Lerner said last week that mining companies and the government had agreed the new royalty would raise around $1bn annually, but the rates that would yield that sum are still being debated.

Securing new funds from lucrative mining firms to fund anti-poverty initiatives was a key campaign promise from leftist President Ollanta Humala, who took office in July.

Peru is a major global metals exporter.