January 2019 News and Analysis from NRGI

Highlights

ResourceProjects.org Includes New Features

Visitors to ResourceProjects.org can now access information on over $500 billion in payments to governments by oil, gas and mining companies, and also sign up for alerts about the companies or countries that interest them.

Resource Governance Index: Sub-Saharan Africa Highlights

In the run-up to African Mining Indaba, NRGI has shared an Africa-specific cut of data from the Resource Governance Index, including this heat map showing the gap between the enactment and implementation of laws governing the mining sector.

International Financial Institutions Must Stand Up for Civic Freedoms
NRGI's Asmara Klein writes that while IFI officials say they want accountability and diversified, efficient economies, they sometimes turn a blind eye to abuses against civil society that undermine social, political and economic stability.

Spotlight on Data

Magufuli Seeks the Right Balance for Tanzania’s Mining Fiscal Regime

Average effective tax rate from a gold project with development costs of USD 420 million, per unit operating costs of $600 per ounce and a gold price of $1,300 per ounce

Tanzania passed sweeping new laws for its extractives sector in 2017 with the objective of obtaining a larger share of the benefits from its mineral and gas deposits. Among other significant changes, these laws increased taxation of the mining sector.

Blog

Three Ways Companies Can Make 2019 a Big Year for Contract Transparency
In 2018, several of the biggest advances in contract transparency came from the private sector. Here are three ways that extractive companies can help drive the contract transparency agenda further.

Modernizing Permitting Will Drive Development of Myanmar’s Mining Sector
Plans to overhaul how mineral and gemstone rights are issued are an opportunity to promote good governance and boost investment in Myanmar. But political will is needed to ensure success.

Protecting Sources, New Reporting Tools Focuses of African Investigative Journalism Conference
At Wits University’s three-day African Investigative Journalism Conference in October, NRGI staff and four NRGI media fellows from Nigeria and Tanzania developed a deeper sense of how the media landscape in Africa is changing—particularly as it relates to oil, gas and mining reporting.

Publications

Contrataciones abiertas para los derechos de petróleo, gas y minería: arrojar luz sobre las buenas practices
The executive summary of Open Contracting for Oil, Gas and Mineral Rights: Shining a Light on Good Practice is now available in Spanish.

Guide to Extractive Sector State-Owned Enterprise Disclosures (Myanmar Language)