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Volume
2, Issue 11 | November 2007 | E-News
Archives
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 CIMG
and KPMG M&A and IPO Workshop - 7th December
Register and learn more about the issues of M&A
in China
to see the new CIMG website and learn more about theses
CIMG's activities and projects visit www.cimg.org.cn
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November
was a month of activity...
November has become in recent years
the "month of mining" in northern Asia. The beginning
of the month began with "China Coal Expo" where
there was as strong show of companies from China and abroad.
One interesting trend seen at this conference was the increase
in the presence of Chinese equipment manufacturers. This conference
was followed by the "Discover Mongolia 2007" and
then by
China Mining 2007.
China Mining did show its colours as one of Asia's Premier
mining events. News from the organisers stated that this year
saw 2515 registered participants, 215 exhibitors and representations
from 43 countries. The event provides an important channel
for communication and exchanging information among global
mining enterprises, while building relationships and creating
valuable networking opportunities.
For the CIMG all of the events held around China mining were
a success and fully attended. The community development workshop
held in conjunction with the ICMM and BSR clearly demonstrated
the benefits of engaging local communities. The CIMG's CEO
safety meeting paved a pathway for future development in enhancing
safety through collaboration in China's mining sector. The
CIMG's morning sessions held each morning before the start
of the day's proceedings at China Mining highlighted a number
of interesting perspectives on mining in China. The morning
session presentations are available online here.
The CIMG Secretariat hopes as well that the members enjoyed
the combined CIMG, Australian Embassy and Canadian Embassy
networking function where there were over 200 attendees. The
true highlight for the CIMG was the policy roundtable held
on the first day of the conference. This was facilitated by
the China Mining organisers and the roundtable was represented
by 10 MOLAR officials and 10 domestic and CIMG member companies.
This was the first time that MOLAR had publically made themselves
available for such an event. The officials were open and pointed
out the the new Mineral Law for the PRC will be released soon
and that many of the issues raised by the CIMG and others
over the years have been addressed.
Beijing shortly after China Mining, hosted the APEC Mining
Ministers Workshop that focussed on sustainable mining. The
CIMG Secretariat highly recommends CIMG members to visit www.industry.gov.au/sdmining
to read the content that highlights stewardship as a tool
to creating circular economies in mining. Lastly, the Canadian
Consulate in Chongching held a Sustaining Mining Forum in
Kunming, which was well attended by Yunnan officials. The
officials were very clear to note that they are interested
in quality investment, however under Yunnan developed regulations.
The CIMG will be placing more emphasis on lobbying and working
with the officials in Yunnan given their status as a policy
development province in relation to mining.
The CIMG also released two key publications. The first being
the "CIMG White Paper 2007" and the second being
the "Maximizing Value: Guidance on implementing materials
stewardship in the minerals and metals value chain".
These two publications will form the foundation of the CIMG's
advocacy platform for the coming months. Both are available
for download on the CIMG website here.
We highly recommend that the CIMG members make the time to
read these publications and the CIMG Secretariat welcomes
any comments that you may have.
To
end the CIMG Secretariat would like to give warm thanks to
Sino Gold and the Swann Group for being key sponsors as well
as China Central Goldfields and Teckcominco Ltd for being
supporting sponsorsof the networking drinks and community
development workshop, Maxy Gold and KPMG for being key sponsors
for the "CIMG Morning Sessions", The Salzer Group
and Westrac China for being key sponsors of the CEO safety
meeting. It is with their support that the CIMG has been able
to deliver such a wide variety of events over the last weeks.
On behalf of the CIMG Members, thank you!
News
from the last CIMG monthly meeting
The last monthly meeting focussed on
the issues related to mining in China as described in the
CIMG White Paper 2007. Prior to this Auslan welcomed the following
new members to the CIMG:
- Sedgman
Australia
- Russell
Mining Equipment
- Lycopodium
Ltd
- Glencore
Trading
- Metalor
Technologies
As
well, Auslan made the following points prior to the presentation
on the White Paper:
- The
term of the current Chairman and Panel of Advisors will
end and nominations for the 2008 Chairman and Panel of Advisors
will soon be open. Advice to come by email.
- The
last CIMG meeting for 2007 will be held on 13 December and
will combine a Christmas drinks function (details to come
shortly);
- The
CIMG recently emailed out its membership survey. Members
should complete these and fax them back the Secretariat.
This is very important to ensure that member feedback is
entered into the 2008 work program;
- There
will be additional Sustaining Sponsorships available in
2008 (maximum 5). For more details please contact the Secretariat.
This
CIMG meeting constituted the official release of the CIMG
White Paper 2007. Auslan made a short presentation outlining
the aim and key message of the White Paper. This was followed
by a panel discussion of the following CIMG members:
- Stuart
Menglar (AAR)
- Glenn
Sheldon (TVI)
- Paul
McKenzie (Morrison & Foerster)
Auslan
noted that the CIMG's white papers are constructive tools
aimed to create dialogue with the relevant officials. As well,
the content is purely from membership. He noted as well that
many of the issues outlined in the 2007 paper are similar
to the 2006 paper with the addition of the two issues that
arose during 2006. These new issues were the Mapping and Surveying
and Property Law regulations. Earlier in the month the NDRC
released an updated version of the Investment guidelines,
however this has been previously addressed in the 2006 white
paper.
The
white paper points that by addressing the issues stated China
will indeed be the main beneficiary. China is in need of resources
but current prices of commodities are rising on the back of
strong Chinese demand, China's mining sector is in a state
of techincal reform but technology requires huge investment,
China is working toward's social harmony and better living
conditions in rural areas but this requires quality investment...
These are well known points and in each of these areas the
foriegn mining community would be of great benefit to China.
Auslan noted that large scale modern mining requiring huge
investment would be able address many of the needs of modern
China. However, the current regulartory framework still contains
a level of uncertainly where investors are not confident that
the benefits of their investment in a project can be realised.
If this were to change there would be an influx and an increase
of quality investment that would:
- Enable
China to develop resources sourced locally from large scale
modern mines, less imported
- Develop
and rural economies as most mining is done in rural areas
- Large
scale mining improves environmental performance
- Modern
large-scale mining is high-tech and capital intensive
This
would bring China many benefits in the long term as well as
increasing the confidence of investors.
Of main interest in the panel discussion that followed was
related to the recent release of the Foriegn Investment Guidelines
by the NDRC/MofCOM. It was noted that the principal changes
in the 2007 Catalogue relevant to the mineral sector are noted
below.
Foreign investment in the exploration for and mining of wolfram,
tin, antimony,
molybdenum and fluorite is now prohibited.
Although exploration for and mining of gold, silver and platinum
falls within the
Restricted category, the 2004 Catalogue provided as an exception
that foreign
investment in the mining and dressing of low-grade and refractory
gold was in the encouraged category. The exception has been
removed from the 2007
Catalogue. As such, ALL gold projects, whether involving a
low-grade or
refractory deposit or another kind of deposit, now fall within
the restricted category.
The following have been removed from the encouraged category
of the
Catalogue, meaning they are permitted:
1. Exploration for and mining of copper, lead, zinc, coal
and associated
resources, and aluminum
2. Mining and dressing of sulphur and potassium.
Mining and dressing of phosphorus has been moved from the
encouraged category of the Catalogue to the restricted category.
Mining
of ocean manganese nodules and sea sand has been added to
the
restricted category.
The following activities were added to the encouraged category:
1. Development and application of new technologies to raise
the utilization
rate of mine tailings and comprehensive applications for the
ecological
remediation of mines;
2. Exploration and mining of oil shale, oil sand, heavy oil
and superheavy
oil;
3.
Exploration and mining of seabed combustible ice.
Other designations have not changed. Accordingly various categories
of project related to the petroleum industry remain in the
encouraged category. Projects remaining in the restricted
category include: Exploration for, and mining of, tungsten,
barite, fluorspar, precious metals (gold, silver, and platinum
family), precious non-metallic ores such as diamonds, and
special and rare types of coal, as well as the mining of szaibelyite,
ludwigite and celestite. In most cases these projects require
foreign investors to set up a joint venture with a local partner.
The minerals newly prohibited for foreign investment join
radioactive minerals and rare earth, which were already in
the 2004 Catalogue.
(for
more informtion on the Catalogue please email Paul McKenzie
PMcKenzie@mofo.com£©
Please
note that the CIMG is currently producing a paper on the Catalogue.
If you have any comments please email them to info@cimg.org.
Member
Update
CIMG
News Links
Members are being emailed
news links each day from the CIMG Secretariat. In an effort
to keep members informed of the latest developments in the
mining sector in China you will recieve on a regular basis
an excel file with links of mining news in China. Please note
this is a CIMG member only service and will provide only links
to the news with a short headline translation. There will
be no commentary or analysis of the news. If you have news
that you would like to add please email, Ivy Ma, who will
be looking after this at info@cimg.org.cn.
CIMG Member Submissions
Wanted
The CIMG is now
contributing to a number of publications. The Secretariat
is seeking content related to Environment, Community, Safety
and Technology. Articles should be case studies, in Chinese
and 2 pages long. This is a unique chance to share information
and promote the international mining community in China. If
you are interested in submitting an article, please send your
article as a word document to auslan@cimg.org.cn.
Regulatory Update
Please find below the lastest
updates for 2007.
CIMG Information -
China's unification of company income tax
China
to end tariff exemptions on some imported equipment
- Jan 2007
China
to Implement One Mine, One Company Policy - Jan 2007
State Council Number
4 - Notice to Government Departments to seek better harmony
for FDI in Mining - Jan 2007 (In Chinese)
MLR
Beijing issued 2 new regulations. The CIMG was recently informed
that MLR Beijing issued 2 new regulations that will come into
affect on the Jan 1 2007:
1. Furthering Reform of the Exploration/Mining License Issuance
2. Equity Method for Paying for Exploration/Mining License
Provisional Regulation on Disciplining Dereliction of Duty in
Environmental Protection Activity -SEPA -issued date: 20030228
Notice
of Further Regulating Exploration Licenses and Mining Licenses
Granting/Transfer Process Management
Notice
of the People's Government of Yunnan Province on new four
laws including Management Rules of Yunnan Province for Rights
of Exploitation and Mining. Laws in Yunnan were released that
focus on the Rights of Exploitation and Mining, Interim Procedures
of Yunnan Province for Levying and Management of Fees for
Compensated Use of Mineral Resources, Interim Procedures of
Yunnan Province for Management of Mineral Property Transaction,
and the Interim Procedures of Yunnan Province for Management
of Deposit for Security for Rehabilitation and Governing of
Mine Geologic Environment. For those wishing to make comment
or if you would like a copy of the laws please contact Auslan
at auslan@cimg.org.cn
If you are interested in submitting to eNews, send
your submission to info@cimg.org.cn E-News
is published once a month.
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