Shire Double Dips on Rates

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Published: Tuesday, 30 May 2017 17:36

I read with interest that on the 16th of January 2017 the Toodyay shire refunded $3253.34 to Yamkuang Resources for lot E70/03730 Tenement Rd which was noted in Item 9.4.1 under List of payments presented to Council for the period 1 January 2017 to 31 January 2017 and found on page 144.

After a little investigation it appears that Yamkuang is actually Yankuang Resources and tenement Rd is not an address but an expired tenement previously held by the Chinese bauxite miner.

For those of you who are not familiar with the way tenements are viewed by local governments, tenements are seen as ownership of the land that they encompass and therefore mining companies are sent rates notices and pay rates on them accordingly.

The owner of the land itself also pays rates and therefore local governments are basically double dipping. While this is completely legal, it is little wonder that local shires welcome tenements and mining companies with open arms.

It is an income stream that does not require any extra services which continues until such time that - as in this case - the tenement expires and is viewed as a dead tenement, or it is surrendered.

Once a mining tenement is converted to a mining lease or license, then the shire will continue to collect rates for the life of the operation. I have not yet been able to find out if the amount of rates payable increases when mining begins and ore worth millions of dollars is extracted, but I will endevour to find out.

Brian Dale
AHMAG