Mr. Brian Breslin:

We have a small amount of coal but what we are successful at is lead and zinc and it is not something we have strategic requirement for. It is exported and the developer is given the right to extract the minerals, process them on site and sell them to a smelter abroad, who gets the proceeds. The royalty we charge is typically based on revenue the mining company gets from the smelter, not profits. The revenue is quite easy to pin down and the charge is a percentage on revenue. As Dr. Doyle said earlier, the 1940 Act was not helpful in trying to set royalties. Mining companies were making investments in exploration and they can be very substantial investments. They would like to have greater predetermination of what their liabilities will be when a line comes into production. That has been a continuing concern for professional investors and we are trying to address it to a certain extent by giving the Minister power to make regulations that set out a range of royalties. We have not determined the range, which will be done by review in accordance with international practice. The Bill provides for it to be reviewed on an eight yearly interval.