"Documents released as part of an investigation into cancelled gas plants in the Toronto-area four years ago revealed the province wanted to impose a royalty on chromite mined by Cliffs of between $6.6 million and $34.4 million a year.

Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle refused to confirm the Liberals tried to impose the chromite royalty, insisting the negotiations with Cliffs were commercially sensitive and must be kept secret."

Now, I am certainly not an apologist for "We-need-toget-it-right" Minister Gravelle but...

Governments impose royalties all of the time. It's silly to believe that ores/minerals from the R.O.F. would somehow be exempt. The figures cited above do not allow one to determine whether such royalties could be deemd to be comparable to those levied in the mining industry in other jurisdictions. Does the range cited above assume a fixed royalty rate (based on gross revenue) or an increasing rate based on profit generated? Would the tax be on unprocessed ore , as a means of encouraging beneficiation in Ontario /Canada? Would the royalty generated be used to offset infrastructure expenses that the governement proposed to incur. Would it be for minesite remediation or meant to offset the reduced industrial electricity rate, or any combination of the above?

Too many unknown details to criticize a potential "chromite tax" without knowing the full scope of the negotiations.

Cheers,

Luker

...Now, take your ball and run along...