The National Transitional Council (CNT) unanimously adopted on Tuesday two major texts whose application will make gold shine for Malians and allow them to better benefit from the enormous mineral resources of the national basement. This is the bill on the Mining Code in the Republic of Mali and that relating to local content in the mining sector. These two texts adopted by the Council of Ministers in its meeting of June 21 were defended before the legislative body by the Minister of Mines Pr Amadou Keïta, accompanied for the occasion by his colleague from the Economy and Finances Alousséni Sanou.The Mining Code in force in our country is that of 2019. It is the 6th of its kind after those of 1963, 1970, 1991, 1999 and 2012. Its rereading follows the National Conference on Refoundation where the vast majority of Malians asked another management approach to the mining sector as well as an audit of this sector. The provisional report of this audit commissioned by the authorities of the Transition highlighted in the mining law and its implementing texts, shortcomings and weaknesses that had to be corrected quickly so that the sector can benefit the national economy. These fair shortcomings are called: the poor integration of mining activity into the national economy despite the favorable context marked by the increase in the price of gold, the wide scope of exemptions which does not favor a distribution of income between the investor and the State, the lack of inclusiveness in the signing of establishment agreements and the approval of amendments introduced by mining companies.Still in the same chapter, we can cite the inadequacy of means of State control over mining, the opening of offshore accounts for mining companies often in contradiction with exchange regulations, the failure to take account in mining legislation for the processing of minerals by toll. That's not all. There are also the constraints linked to a single establishment agreement system which covers the research phase and the exploitation phase.This requires the State to make commitments on exploitation even before the discovery of the deposit as well as the weakness of national texts in relation to local content, limiting the involvement of national actors in the chain of mining activity . Studies and reflections have also shown that the amounts invested in the purchase of goods and services by international mining companies can reach 80% of purchases made outside Malian territory. CORRECT DEFICIENCIES- The two texts were therefore initiated to correct these deficiencies. Today, the State's objective is to have a Mining Development Code. This is why the new Mining Code adopted by the CNT brings several innovations, in particular the optimization of the mining royalty rate within the framework of a modular system according to the mineral substances extracted and the level of valuation, the introduction of the concept of strategic substances, the total abolition of exemptions during the exploitation phase, inclusiveness in the approval of establishment agreements and mining titles.But also, the establishment of two separate agreements for the research phase and the exploitation phase, the limitation of the duration of the establishment agreements in the exploitation phase, the improvement of the basis for calculating the Tax ad valorem (Value Added Tax (TAV), the consideration of processing schemes by toll legislation in mining, the determination of the method of calculating the cash participation of the State and private nationals. As well as the strengthening of the State's right of pre-emption in mining title transfer deeds and the introduction of promotional zones in the research phase.With this Mining Code, innovations are also useful to improve transparency and good governance, in particular the creation of a technical commission made up of representatives of the ministries in charge of mines, Finance, Lands, the Environment, Territorial Administration and Security, which rules obligatorily on draft establishment agreements for the purpose of examining their conformity with the legislation in force. Also, the approval of establishment agreements will now be done by the Council of Ministers to improve transparency.There will also be the creation of a Commissariat for the control and monitoring of mining activities which will be attached to the Presidency of the Republic. The text also provides for the prohibition of the export of bulk ore. This would facilitate the development of a real processing industry that would create new jobs at the local level and lead to an increase in Malian revenues from the mines. At the tax level, the new Code promotes the increase of tax revenue through the abolition of the special tax and customs regime, the fight against under-capitalization, the limitation of the deductibility of intra-group loans, the taxation of capital gains , the limitation of the deduction of sums paid in jurisdictions with privileged taxation (tax haven).For the text on local content in the mining sector, it aims to increase the supply of goods and services to mining companies by local operators, to promote national companies, the participation of nationals in the capital of companies. But also increase the hiring of personnel from the local population, reduce the employment of foreigners, increase mining investments in non-mining sectors, increase local production and processing as well as the capacities of national companies as ' mining operators.
(20min delay)