Aussie Opal Market

Welcome to Aussie Opal Market online
The home of Quality Coober Pedy Solid Australian Opal Gemstones and Opal Jewellery.

Welcome to Aussie Opal Market online

The home of Quality Coober Pedy Solid Australian Opal Gemstones and Opal Jewellery.

LATEST NEWS from AUSSIE OPAL MARKET

Small miners rocked by 'confusing' levy.

By Jared Owens. The Australian. (May 23, 2010)

KEVIN Rudd is failing in his bid to convince small-time miners they will be better off under his new resources tax, with frontier businesses fearing the new 40 per cent levy on super-profits will slow the industry down. The federal government's plan to tax the profits of major mining companies has been promoted as a boon for smaller operators, whose profits are unlikely to attract the tax. But when The Australian visited miner Eric Stelzer at his tiny camp in outback Queensland, the opal miner said he was unnerved by the proposal. "It certainly hasn't been made clear to us what it all means," Mr Stelzer said. "Even on our little scale, we could be affected." The 63-year-old's mine at Alaric, more than 500km west of Brisbane, is a family business. He lives on-site with his wife, Sue, while his two adult children occasionally help out with the cutting and marketing of his opals. .."We don't make a lot of money," he said. "But we've managed to pay the bills for 10 years now." With his nearest newsagent more than an hour's drive away, Mr Stelzer has pieced his opinion of the super-profits tax together from the television news. "I really don't completely understand how it works. I don't even think the government understands it," he said. "The federal government definitely could have done a better job explaining it to me." Queensland Opal Miners Association secretary Kevin Phillips said he was not able to inform his members because the federal government had not briefed him. "We've got two bodies that look after us - that's QOMA and the Small Miners Council - and nobody's talked to us," Mr Phillips said. He warned the government that his industry was unlikely to be wooed by the tax reforms while they faced an "archaic" Native Title Act and a state government plan to declare the Lake Eyre Basin a wild rivers system. "I'm in favour of native title. I think it's a great thing, but the tools we've got to work through it aren't working," Mr Phillips said. He said that where some paperwork once took three months to be processed, it could now take up to two years. Mr Phillips said the controversial wild rivers protection would put small miners out of business, even though they used low-impact mining techniques and were required to rehabilitate the land when they were done. Nationals Senator Ron Boswell said the tax would freeze development in the basin, hurting local communities.

(Source: News.com.au)

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