CONAKRY: Guinea's National Transitional Council has amended the mining code to reduce some taxes, in an effort to improve the investment climate, government officials said.
Mining firms have since last year frozen billions of dollars' worth of planned investments in the West African state, the world's top supplier of bauxite and home to rich iron ore reserves, citing fiscal uncertainty and political turmoil.
"The changes were made yesterday by the National Transitional Council, during a session in the presence of the minister of mines, " Amadou Camara, a member of the council, told Reuters on Tuesday.
The changes cut mining profit taxes to 30 percent from 35 percent and slash the tax on bauxite to 0.15 percent of the international market price for aluminium, from 0.55 percent, according to a copy of the amendments obtained by Reuters.
Guinea rewrote its mining code in 2011 in an effort to increase the state take from minerals resources, but the effort drew criticism from investors arguing they would make projects less profitable.
"To bring big companies to our resources, it is important to offer an improved judicial framework and better financial conditions," said Mines Minister Mohamed Lamine Fofana in a letter sent to the council before the changes were adopted, and obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.
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