Fortescue calls on Australian PM to discuss mining tax with wider community

Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group Limited (Fortescue) on July 21 reiterated its objections to the proposed Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) and has called for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to discuss the proposal with the wider community.
 
Fortescue CEO Andrew Forrest also called on the prime minister to include Greens leader Bob Brown in the discussions, saying that he is misinformed about the issue. Mr. Forrest added that the other 99 percent of iron ore and coal mining companies were excluded from the negotiations. 
 
Fortescue previously identified that established companies which deny third party access to their rail and port infrastructure will receive more favorable treatment than new miners and other infrastructure developers who provide third party access to their systems, pointing out that not every company has the capacity to develop their own infrastructure.
 
The company stated that the following would need to be addressed: interest deductibility, dropping the bias against infrastructure that serves the public, an increase in the uplift rate to reflect actual costs of finance and the exclusion of magnetite from the MRRT.
 
"The MRRT is unfair on the rest of the mining industry (apart from the big ones) and the government's promise to deal with us after the election is worrying us all," Mr. Forrest said.