Romania Gov increase of mining royalties raise protests of mining exploitation companies

Mining companies are protesting against the government claiming that increase of royalties is illegal.

Some mining companies that hold licenses for mining concession in Romania have been refusing to pay the full royalties under the laws in force.

Most of the royalties have increased compared to when the concession licenses were granted. The companies have been paying only the initial amounts agreed upon with the state, reports local Profit.ro. They argue that the Romanian state has illegally increased the royalties.

These are the conclusions of the Government’s inspectors, following a control at the National Agency for Mineral Resources. The list of these companies is not public, but the total unpaid royalties amount to over EUR 8.5 million.

The royalties have increased twice since 2003, when the Mining Law was initially signed, namely in 2007 and 2013.

Source: Romania insider