In Serbia, as the Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic recently said, the confirmed reserves of mineral raw materials are worth close to 200 billion dollars.
She also pointed out that the task of the state is to create conditions for the development of mining, and that the state and citizens must benefit from that – through a healthy environment, higher incomes, employment and quality investments. She also announced an increase in ore rent, which is defined by the Law on Determining Fees for the Use of Public Goods, for which the Ministry of Finance is responsible, emphasizing that detailed analyzes are being done, after which she will contact the ministry to initiate the change procedure.
This fee is paid for the use of various public goods and is the lowest for the exploitation of salt water, as well as for non-metallic raw materials, except for non-metallic raw materials for obtaining construction materials, and amounts to one percent of the income.
For the use of other resources and reserves of mineral raw materials, coal and oil shale, oil and gas, radioactive raw materials, metallic raw materials, technogenic and non-metallic raw materials, groundwater from which useful mineral raw materials are obtained or gases that occur with them, the fee is from three to seven percent of income, and for those resources that are subjected to pyro, hydro or electrometallurgical process, the fee is paid from net income. Fees for the use of mineral resources are paid in all countries, and in Serbia they are among the lowest in Europe.
Thus, the ore rent in Croatia is ten percent, in Hungary and Romania 12 percent, in Slovenia 18 percent, and in the Russian Federation – 22 percent, according to Dnevnik.
The money earned in the name of ore rent is paid into the budget of the republic, the province and the local self-government. The most money, ie 60 percent, which is realized from the fee for the use of mineral raw materials and geothermal resources, is the income of the budget of Serbia, while 40 percent belongs to the budget of the local self-government on whose territory the exploitation is performed. When exploitation is performed in AP Vojvodina, 50 percent of the money from the fee for the use of mineral raw materials and geothermal resources belongs to the budget of Serbia, 40 percent belongs to the local self-government on whose territory the exploitation is performed, and ten percent is the revenue of the province budget.
Of the money paid into the budget of Serbia, 35% is used in accordance with the annual program in order to encourage the development of mining and prevent and eliminate harmful consequences caused by the exploitation of mineral raw materials. The money from the fee for the use of mineral raw materials and geothermal resources belonging to local governments is used to improve living conditions in them, and above all to build infrastructure facilities and other facilities to improve living conditions, approved by the Ministry or the competent authority of the autonomous province.
The President of the Gas Association of Serbia, Vojislav Vuletic, says that it is very important that the money generated from the ore rent is directed to where it is most needed, and thus all the citizens of Serbia benefit – health, education, roads…
“It would be best if the state exploited all the mineral resources in our country, but we do not have the strength for that and we have to give that opportunity to foreign companies. The ore rent in Serbia is low and it should be ensured that it is higher, but I think that will not happen because the companies that explore ores in Serbia would be demotivated to exploit them and they would go to a country that offers more favorable conditions on that issue,” Vuletic points out.
The state should consider whether only foreign investors should work in that area, so that the profit that is realized remains in our country, believes the editor of the “Energy of the Balkans” portal, Jelica Putnikovic.
“The state, when it is assessed that exploitation is profitable, should invest in research and later exploitation and, if necessary, raise loans for that, and above all it is necessary to manage wisely in that sector and those resources and make a decision,” she added.
On the basis of the fee for the use of mineral raw materials, four years ago, a total of almost 44 million euros was collected in Serbia. Of that, about 10 million euros was paid for their exploitation in Vojvodina, and 34 million euros in central Serbia. That year, most of the money came from the collection of the coal fee, and then the exploitation of metals and oil, Sputnik News reports.
