Poland's KGHM urges cut in mining tax

Poland's KGHM, the second-largest copper producer in Europe, on Saturday called for a cut in the domestic tax on miners and flagged a temporary shutdown at one of its overseas mines as copper prices sit at multi-year lows. Shares in the state-run miner have fallen more than 25 percent this year as concern about growth in China, which consumes half of global copper output, have pushed copper
prices below $5,000 a tonne, a level which KGHM says begins to hurt its profits. Poland implemented a mining tax in 2012. KGHM expects to pay around 1.4 billion zlotys ($355 million) worth of mining levies this year, equal to around 58 percent of the company's 2014 net profit. "The levy ... is something natural, but with the current price levels it should be calculated so that it equalled 60 percent of the sum KGHM is currently paying," KGHM chief executive Herbert Wirth told Reuters.