Colombian mining industry proposes creating royalty oversight body

Colombian mining association ACM called for the creation of an oversight body to control where mining royalties are being invested.

ACM head Juan Camilo Nariño told an event that the entity should be the product of a government-industry joint effort, adding that in the last 10 years, the mining sector has contributed an average of 4tn pesos (US$1bn) annually, and 16tn pesos last year due to international price dynamics.

Of the total, 3.2tn pesos were contributions under high-price clauses defined in mining contracts and "in essence this contribution is greater than the last tax reform of the previous government," said Nariño.

Data by national mining agency ANM shows that the sector represented 3% of GDP last year, and generated 160,000 direct and 700,000 indirect jobs.