Decalogue for the development of the country from the mining industry.
1. Putting mineral resources at the service of the present and future quality of life of the population.
Many provinces possess geological wealth. In order to make the most of it and to make it available to the
The inclusion of mining as a long-term state policy of the nation and of the provinces willing to take advantage of these resources is necessary. Promoting a sustainable mining industry, a source of employment and income for the country, will make it possible to expand the national productive matrix and progressively increase exports, generating comprehensive sustainable development.
2. Consolidate federal development.
The mining industry is a genuine and home-grown option in many parts of the country, contributing to local and national growth. It contributes to progress in areas far from traditional production centres and large urban conglomerates. It becomes a vector of development, as the SME industry, suppliers, commerce and services grow around it. This means new job opportunities and the development of communities, opening up prospects for social, employment and personal progress where they are scarcer. The goals proposed in this Decalogue envisage the development and joint work of all those involved in the Sustainable Mining Industry. Expanding and enhancing the value chain, where the importance of empowering the communities involved should be highlighted in order to
to become providers of goods and services.
3. Ensure legal stability.
Mining projects require significant amounts of initial investment, with a long payback period. This requires a stable legal framework, a predictable tax system, and respect for Law No. 24.196 on Mining Investments. Also, incorporating specific special regimes that allow them to operate in the foreign exchange market for the timely fulfilment of their obligations. The inflow and outflow of foreign currency for the normal economic development of the Projects abroad, and the availability to import inputs and equipment necessary for the productive activity is essential for the viability of the projects to be financed.
4. Improving competitiveness
Our country competes with others to attract productive investment. For this reason, a taxation scheme should be planned that allows us to sustain competitive conditions at the global level. Withholding taxes should be reviewed and taxes should only be levied on net profits/royalties and not on production. Argentina is the only country that punishes exports with a tax, generating a loss of competitiveness. VAT refund regimes should also be reviewed, as well as some provincial taxes such as stamp duty, the creation of new taxes by municipalities and/or requests for additional contributions. This will make the procedure for refunding excess tax burden paid more efficient, within the framework of the fiscal stability of Law No. 24.196, with the understanding that competitiveness is increased with more and better value chain, not with more burden.
5. Boosting the mining value chain.
Mining projects and their expansions in the country foster the development not only of mining, but also of other sectors by contributing to the development of their periphery and impacting the economy at the national level. Mining companies make a large part of their purchases in the country, mainly from Argentinean SMEs, which initiates and fosters the development and growth of regional economies and has a positive impact on the whole country. It is important to continue to generate local capacities to increase the percentage of
provincial suppliers with a gender focus and from the area of influence of the projects. To this end, strengthening and training strategies should be devised in all areas involving professional technical services, skilled labour, where everyone works in compliance with fiscal and labour regulations.
6. Promote multidisciplinary training in all links of the mining industry and local-regional employment under an inclusive perspective.
Planning for the growth of the sector must be accompanied by actions to guarantee the development of human resources. It is essential to generate training programmes, articulated between companies, guilds and chambers that bring together companies, professional councils, universities and technical schools to promote everything from technical skills to university education. Paid internship and training programmes should also help to promote the optimisation of the implementation of inclusive policies and training to promote inclusion.
7. Generate infrastructure for regional development.
Due to the characteristics of the places where it is developed, there are infrastructure needs for mining: energy, communication, roads, water, railways and airports. It is therefore important to design incentive schemes for investments in infrastructure that improve regional competitiveness, such as water supply, power lines, roads, etc. This not only benefits mining, but also makes it possible for other industries to develop in these provinces, taking advantage of, complementing and planning the investments needed by mining companies. This not only benefits mining, but also makes it possible for other industries to develop in these regions, as well as promotes the supply of water to nearby populations, improves their physical and digital communication routes, and generates other benefits that undoubtedly redound in their development and in the improvement of their quality of life. Such infrastructure must be planned in advance under safety, quality and continuity schemes, using taxes to improve industries with a comparative advantage. At the same time, consideration should be given to how to use these funds to improve the training of people, the irrigation system and power lines. In addition to this, the contribution of non-metallic mining should be valued, in its role as a supplier of raw materials to advance in the construction of public and private infrastructure works.
public and private infrastructure works.
8. Promote transparency, communication and dialogue.
Permanent communication on productive, environmental and social issues should be a central axis. To this end, the active participation of national and provincial authorities and companies, from the initial stages with community actors, stakeholders and society in general, must converge in spaces for informed and respectful dialogue. Generating spaces for debate that are accessible to the population allows demystifying mining based on empirical evidence and expert opinion. Society must have permanent, easily accessible and understandable information. This should include the need to provide up-to-date and reliable information on the state of the mining cadastre, reflecting day-to-day changes in the ownership of mining rights within provincial jurisdictions.
Transparent communication should include all benefits executed by states with the income from royalties, trusts and other contributions.
9. Promote efficient and environmentally responsible government production and management.
Continue to encourage the development of environmentally responsible mining, ensure compliance with National Law 24,585 (Environmental Protection Law for Mining Activities), as well as other national, provincial and local regulations. Maintain the highest international standards in the industry and continue applying the technological advances of the so-called mining 4.0 to continue gaining efficiency and protecting the environment. State and industry should seek to achieve mechanisms to reduce consumption and prioritise the use of industrial quality water (salty, brackish, mineralised, etc.), specifically protecting water resources so that they remain available not only in the coming years, but also for future generations.
Authorities should be trained and create specialised working groups for the evaluation of projects and subsequent monitoring and control of compliance with environmental obligations.
10.Contribute to energy efficiency.
There is a positive feedback loop between the mining industry and renewable energies, as minerals are present both in the production of sustainable energies and in the technologies for their reserve and storage, allowing the Argentinean mining industry to be an architect of this evolution.
The industry must commit itself to using the best available energy solutions by moving towards cleaner energy sources in a way that is appropriate to the areas where the projects are located. The development of the necessary infrastructure and effective control by the competent authority play a key role in this. Environment.
Verifiable objectives:
Ensure full implementation of Law 24196. The aim is to avoid both the continuity and the creation of new provisions that violate the spirit of the Mining Investment Law, such as export duties, which generate distortions affecting the competitiveness of national production.
2. Set an equivalent tax burden or less than that of the countries with which it competes for investment, where tax and legal specialists are involved.
3. Remove restrictions. Free access to the foreign exchange market and the possibility of importing inputs and equipment necessary for productive activity that are not available on the domestic market. For all those operating in the mining activity. SS providers will have to register as providers and receive the same benefit already provided for in the Mining Act.
4. Creating development-friendly taxation schemesThe economic and financial matrix of mining projects should be strengthened. Generate laws and policies that favour the promotion of investment in exploration to increase the mining project base.
5. Towards zero migration from the interior of the provincial territories to the big cities, reversing the depopulation trends of small towns due to the exodus of young people. As a subsequent objective, to encourage reverse migration by generating job opportunities and the necessary infrastructure.
6. Monitoring and reliable communication by provincial state agencies, so that they are unquestionable guarantors of the quality of mining processes in the deposits and promoters of transparency, providing the certainty that the population demands. To have the necessary number of duly trained professionals, with the appropriate technical tools and dissemination of their analyses.
7. Ensuring the generation of technical information by increasingly professionalised and knowledge-optimised state agencies.The coordination with other productive sectors, and to improve the quality and access to data related to environmental and social impact, is necessary for the advancement of the sector. Create open data portals that favour scientific and technical collaboration where information is collected in real time. Promote communication on the care and promotion of biodiversity by mining projects, highlighting sustainable water management.
8. Promote new strategies in supply chain development.with a focus on local capacity building. Growth of current suppliers and incorporation of new ones.
9. Enhancing the quality of suppliersThe aim is to make them competitive and even able to export goods and services to other countries in the region. It is therefore important to train local human resources, ensuring that there are no bottlenecks in professional requirements.
10. Ensure transparency mechanisms regarding the economic contribution of mining.The EITI is a global initiative that reinforces and complements initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which Argentina has joined since 2019. Ensuring public and accessible dissemination of information The government has to be informed by each province and the nation of the money received from the sector's contributions and the use to which they are put.
11. Increase women's participation in the sector, through training programmes and specific calls for proposals. to enable women to access the formal and well-paid jobs generated by the mining industry.
12. Encourage the adaptation of the regulatory framework towards shared care tasks within families.to promote conditions of equity that facilitate the integration of women.
13. Increase the infrastructure needed for access to clean energy sources.emissions, in order to reduce the carbon footprint of mining production. This requires the design of a comprehensive logistics plan that takes into account road, air and rail transport needs.
14. Expand connectivity to mining regions. Thus improving the work of the sites and the development possibilities of the surrounding populations.
Bibliography:
- Co-constructors: Acosta, Victoria - Arzuaga, Ximena - Berenstein, Luciano - Cardona,
Alejandra - Carlocchia, Alberto - Cuburu, Carlos - Dominguez, Cecilia - Dumandzic, María
Gabriela - Fritzche, Roberto - Grgic, Ivan - Gurrieri, Jorge - Hernández, Mario - Iramain, Juan
- Llanos, Juan - Mignacco, Franco - Nanzi, Isabel - Parizek, Bernardo - Parravicini, Diego
- Rigamonti, Nestor - Rodriguez, Mercedes - Rooney, Julian - Scatizza, Carlos - Tarraubela, Rodolfo - Vacazur, Luis.
- Co-constructing organisations: Cámara Argentina de Empresas Mineras, Cámara de Minería de Río Negro, Fundación Eco Conciencia, GVH Logística Minera, Hidroar, IADEM, Observatorio PYME Minero de la UB, WIM Argentina.
- Argentine Mining Industry Report, February 2022. Argentine Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs.
- Open Community Information System on Mining Activity in Argentina (SIACAM) https://www.argentina.gob.ar/produccion/mineria/siacam
- Mining 4.0, a sector in full evolution. Risk and Insurance Management, MAPFRE. Retrieved from:https://www.mapfreglobalrisks.com/gerencia-riesgosseguros/articulos/mineria-4-0un-sector-en-plena-evolucion/
The university courses in Salta that are most present in the mining sector, 10 July 2022. P. Ferrer. El Tribuno newspaper. Retrieved from:https://www.eltribuno.com/nota/2022-7-9-23-13-0-las-carreras-universitarias-saltenas-que-mas-presencia-tienen-dentro-de-la-mineria