PERTH (miningweekly.com) –Queensland miners were expected to pay more than A$3,2-billion in minerals and energy royalties to the state government in the next financial year, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said on Tuesday.

QRC CEO Michael Roche said the Treasury forecast of A$3,2-billion in resource royalties and land rents over the next 12 months represented a 63% improvement over the current financial year on the back of improved commodity prices.

‘This says two things. First, that the resources sector is paying its fair share to the real owners of the state’s resources – the people of Queensland, and secondly, the royalty regime in Queensland is responsive to price movements.

“If the price received for a Queensland mineral commodity such as coal or copper rises, so does the royalty paid to taxpayers. It’s not a clumsy, tonnage-based system as some in the federal government would suggest,” Roche stated.

Over the next four years, the Treasury was forecasting that minerals and energy companies in Queensland would pay state taxpayers almost A$13-billion of wages, salaries, infrastructure, community support programmes, and corporate taxes to the federal government.

“Importantly, the people of Queensland get the lion’s share of this dividend, as they are entitled under the Australian Constitution,” Roche said.