The battle over a new set of state fees on unpatented mining claims in Nevada appears to pitting the small miner against the majors.
A recently formed Nevada Mineral Exploration Coalition says "Section 47 of Assembly Bill 6 enacted by the Special Session of the Nevada Legislature (the Act)... increased the fee payable by the owner of an unpatented mining claim on the recording of a notice of intent to hold the mining claim. The increase in the fee is $70, $85 or $195 per mining claim depending upon the number of mining claims owned by the recording party." [right, mining claims at the end of 2008. Credit, NV Bur. of Mines & Geology]
The Act is a done deal, with the first claim payments due in June 2011. But one of my contacts says many of the small companies are threatening to not pay although he says the penalties for not doing so are unclear.
Opponents of the state fees say it was part of a deal negotiated by major mining companies to avoid elimination of the 5% cap on state production taxes.
The real criminal here is the Nevada Mining Association - it defended Mining Companies and in the process threw the exploration companies under the bus! - The counties are going to be the real losers here - explroation companies are going to abandon Nevada.....So much for those real high paying jobs!
ReplyDeletewow I just bought 5 mines 4 hard rock and 2 placer I was getting ready to start testing. I have a total of 64 claims in nevada Ive planned for the close to 10k in federal fees a additional 10k in state fees will really hurt. Thats 20k in fees and I havent made a penny. I thought nevada was the most mining friendly state I guess I was wrong. Im going to double up my efforts to raise capital to move forward with testing and permitting. Im still paying off my last claim. Does nevada have any more surprises that I dont know about? Id rather pay royalties based on production and a federal clean up fee. That 10k could go toward getting permitted or do testing to attract more investors. I heard it still is in the courts but it sounds like a done deal.
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