Author Description

Canada and Australia are major producers in the world's uranium industry and principal competitors for the uranium export market. This study compares the impact of taxation on the economic viability and competitive position of uranium mining in the two countries, based on four types of uranium deposits which are of primary economic interest. Four hypothetical project models were designed for evaluation, based on these deposit types. The deposits are assumed to have been discovered and delineated, and are awaiting a mine development decision. Uranium mining project profiles were constructed for the four cases, synthesized from actual situations. Base case conditions include an expected uranium price of 30 dollars US per pound of U203, and 10 percent cost of capital. The project models were designed to give a good economic spread of before-tax returns, varying under base case conditions from marginally economic to highly profitable. Tax jurisdictions used are in Ontario, NWT, and Saskatchewan in Canada, and Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia in Australia. Several taxation criteria are assessed in each case, including after-tax measures of investment incentive, discounted tax revenues, effective tax rates, intergovernmental tax shares, and comparative tax levels.