Mining bosses are crying poor about having to pay tax on their super profits, but they can still find enough money to spend millions of dollars on advertising campaigns.
 
Xstrata’s gang of four, Freyberg (Xstrata Coal), Sartain (Xstrata Copper), Zaldumbide (Xstrata Zinc) and Pearce (Xstrata Nickel) have been busy writing letters and posting them out to workers.
 


They should have saved themselves the price of a stamp.
 


In their letter, found in some of our members’ letter boxes, they said: “The facts are that Xstrata has invested more into Australia than the money we’ve generated from our Australian operations.”



Well we know for a fact that Australian coal is far and away the most profitable sector of Xstrata’s global empire. To present their investment in Australia as some sort of charity project is highly misleading.

 

The Union’s position on the tax Xstrata and the other mining giants are railing against isn’t new. We’ve always stood for a decent level of return from resource companies, so there is something put back into mining communities.
 
We’ve had this position for 30 years – and we know some facts as well.
 


1.     It’s not 40%



The RSPT is a tax on profits over and above a threshold. That threshold is 6%. There is a return on capital of 6%, and they don’t get taxed. Above that they get taxed 40%. But they don’t pay 40%. They get cost credited. Any tax bill they pay is deducted on company tax, and that’s going down to 28%.


 
2.     It’s time to put some of the profit back



Mine site costs don’t change very much. We know because the bosses keep telling us. Profits are going up. But the royalty system is based on dirt and tonnes, not on profit. So when the profits go up, the royalties haven’t gone up with them.
 
Guess who got all that cream? It wasn’t the workers and it wasn’t the mining communities.
 


3.     Xstrata isn’t going anywhere



Xstrata says it’s going to shelve it’s Wandoan Coal Project. Wandoan has not been shelved. They’re still buying properties in the Wandoan area. Then they line up some blokes in PPE, with garden tools and parade them in front of the camera’s.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Check out the picture here



In their final plea, the Xstrata bosses say “The Government has refused to consult with our industry on the…design of the tax either prior to or after the announcement of the super [profit] tax.”
 


Seems like they are getting some of their own medicine back, they are comfortable when they do not consult with the Union and its members at their mine sites but complain loudly when the boot is on the other foot. Talk about double standards.