chill out guys, page-8

Encouraging over here in Aus. The below may certainly be of interest as well and certainly encouraging:

Humala says will not impose new tax unilaterally

* Southern Copper reviewing $2 billion investments

* Xstrata, Buenaventura affirm $8.7 billion in projects

By Teresa Cespedes and Patricia Velez

LIMA, June 7 (Reuters) - Leftist President-elect Ollanta Humala tried to soothe fears of companies in Peru's vast mining sector on Tuesday, saying he would negotiate taxing their windfall profits instead of imposing a new levy unilaterally.

Humala, a former army officer who narrowly beat right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori in Sunday's vote, has ditched his most radical proposals since losing the 2006 election and recast himself as a conciliatory leader.

But he says mining companies whose profits have swollen on lofty global commodities prices should fund social programs in a country where a third of people are poor despite a decade-long economic boom.

"In principle there was a political consensus during the campaign to charge a windfall profits tax on miners," he told Reuters in an interview. "The tax rate we need to talk about with companies, taking their profit margins into account."

Some companies have bristled at the proposal, saying it would encourage them to build mines elsewhere and jeopardize $40 billion in mining projects the government of departing President Alan Garcia has lined up for the next decade.