Mining revenue sharing draft seen to be completed by June

The Interagency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) will finish its draft bill that will define the revenue sharing scheme between the government and private miners this May, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said.

In an interview Monday, Domingo said the MICC would meet sometime this month to discuss the revenue sharing formula to benefit the government.

“By mid-May, there will be a more defined formula. A draft bill for mining will be finished by mid-May or sometime in June,” Domingo said.

He said the MICC would not hurry to finish the draft to ensure that the government gets the best deal possible. “Our real timetable is the end of the year. Progress is steady but it’s not something we’re aggressively pushing right now,” Domingo said.

The government hopes that once the revenue sharing reforms are implemented, that mining could raise its contribution to 4 to 5 percent of gross domestic product from the present 1 percent.

There are two ways the government currently gets its share from mining. One is under a mineral production sharing agreement, or MPSA (a form of excise tax), and another through the Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement, or FTAA (a percentage of net mining revenue).