Publication: The World Bank's Evolutionary Approach to Mining Sector Reform
Loading...
Published
2010-10
ISSN
Date
2014-05-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
In this report, in addition to aggregate results, six brief case studies are used to highlight the impact of Bank supported mining sector reform on various indicators at different links of the value chain. These include: the impacts on investment; production and employment in Argentina; institutional capacity building in Papua New Guinea; production and fiscal revenues in Tanzania; community and regional development in Madagascar; mining sector reform and sustainable development in Mongolia; and mining and resource corridors in Liberia. The reforms of the 1990s and early 2000s, which focused on increasing investment and building regulatory capacity, have often had spectacular results with respect to investment and good results with respect to institution building. The work on increasing the efficiency and transparency of fiscal regimes has also achieved significant success, although it is still too early to make a final assessment. While the mining sector-specific aspects of the management and allocation of fiscal revenues are still in early days, there do seem to have been important impacts on poverty reduction and sustainable development in a number of countries that have undergone mining reform, although there has been an insufficient passage of time to make definitive judgments.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“McMahon, Gary. 2010. The World Bank's Evolutionary Approach to Mining Sector Reform. Extractive industries and development series;no. 19. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18288 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Sector Licensing Studies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011)This report is intended to provide guidance on best practices in mining licensing, based on examples from low, middle and high income countries in Africa, Asia, North America, and South America. It is not a 'how-to guide' or a licensing implementation toolkit, but rather identifies certain common features of successful mining licensing regimes worldwide that other national or sub-national jurisdictions might usefully incorporate in new mining laws and regulations or revisions or existing ones. The case studies and other examples of good and bad practice are intended to provide a cross-section by geography and by income level, and they demonstrate that the prevalence of good and bad practices is not simply a function of income level. Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world, has in many respects a better licensing regime than either South Africa or the U.S. State of Wisconsin. In considering these complex issues, it has proven difficult to confine the discussion purely to questions of licensing. Discussion of licensing invariably invokes reference to overall policy and investment climate issues, environmental protection, labor law, taxation, national and sub-national jurisdiction, land tenure, and much more. This report makes no attempt to address all of these in detail but refers to them in reference to their interactions with and effect on, licensing itself. Far more detailed research on mineral policy, taxation, investment climate, and other issues has been carried out, some of it referred to in this report and cited in the footnotes and bibliography.Publication Albania : Mining Sector Reform, Restructuring and Future Prospects(World Bank, 2009-06-01)This report provides a concise overview of the current situation of the mining sector in Albania. It evaluates the major events that took place in the last two decades (especially regarding the privatization process), and examines its governance, overarching policies and its legal frameworks that have guided the sector development. Having identified the weaknesses and difficulties that the sector faces, the report then suggests an outline for a comprehensive reform program. The main findings in this regard are related to: improving sector governance; improving regulatory effectiveness; strengthening the technical capacities; addressing environmental and social legacy, and community benefit sharing issues; and sustaining sector growth through sector promotion. The report also summarizes an evaluation of the mineral legal and regulatory environment, in order to inform an overall reform strategy and to identify commodities and/or resource areas of particular interest going forward, 'low hanging fruit' that might offer new growth opportunities. The overall conclusion of the report is that sector reform should emphasize new Greenfield resource potential through generative exploration by smaller and medium-sized international 'junior' mining companies. New resource development will be undertaken within a strengthened governance framework reinforced by a competitive, transparent, stable, non-discretionary regulatory regime. Although now highly fragmented, existing operations will be improved with the introduction of new operations performing to international good practice. Additionally, the private sector should be enabled to consolidate license holdings under improved regulatory enforcement that prevents licenses being held for speculation without intention to undertake meaningful investments that will result in development.Publication Nigeria - An Economic Analysis of Natural Resources Sustainability for the Mining Sector Component(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-05)This report firstly presents an analysis of the Nigerian economy as the environment within which the solid minerals sector is situated. It discusses the economy in terms of its distinguishing characteristics, structure and related issues, such that the place of the sold minerals sector can be appreciated. An examination of policy issues and economic reforms to aid the development process is also presented. This study, carried out between February and April 2007, specifically addresses the prospects of developing an industrial mining sector in Nigeria. The current mining sector is dominated by small-scale operations, working below their full potential and literally scratching the surface. Preliminary investigations indicated a lack of up to date information on deposits and lack of microeconomic information on the feasibility of extraction. The study is considered to be important from two different perspectives. First, solid mineral resources are economically, socially and environmentally crucial for Nigeria. There are key knowledge gaps in the sector. In addition the utilization of solid mineral resources is well aligned with the Bank's country partnership strategy, which is placing a strong focus on nonoil growth sectors of the economy. The other perspective comes from the environmental sector; the Bank has just completed the CEA (Country Environmental Analysis) and the idea is to continue the policy dialogue with the mining sector, and to help strengthen its links to the economic sectors where the environment is important. This study provides a major opportunity to carry this out. The primary objective of the study is to assess the prospects of an industrial mining sector emerging in Nigeria given what is known about the country's geology and mineral endowment as well as economic, institutional and other factors.Publication Mineral Rights Cadastre : Promoting Transparent Access to Mineral Resources(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)This document proposes a set of generally applicable recommendations and good practices for creating a Mineral Rights Cadastre (MRC), an administrative body responsible for overseeing the process of granting and managing mineral licenses throughout a country. The document reviews lessons learned from World Bank-funded projects aimed at reforming mineral rights management and assesses the impacts and benefits of the implemented changes. The document focuses on the MRC system as a key regulatory agency of mining sector administration. This study is also intended to fill a gap in the literature on mining sector administration, as few publications since roughly the 1930s have been dedicated to the overall analysis of MRCs, particularly in relation to modern and recent mining cadastral practices. While the overall concepts and principles presented in this document are intended to be universally valid and applicable, there is no single solution to mining sector development, and it would be unrealistic to believe that actions that have been successful in one country can be directly transferred to others. The MRC of any given country will need to be adapted to that particular country's culture, tradition, existing legal framework, development capacity, and other factors. This document describes the trade-offs that may be necessary to arrive at an acceptable solution; using case studies, it also highlights concrete applications that can be recommended, based on typical country circumstances.Publication Democratic Republic of Congo : Growth with Governance in the Mining Sector(Washington, DC, 2008-05)This study examines the mining sector's potential to contribute to economic growth with governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the past, mining has been the main engine of the Congo economy. But the revenues and other benefit streams generated by the sector over the years have not been used in a wise or sustainable fashion, largely due to key problems with sector governance. During the past ten years of civil war and conflict, flagship industrial mining declined substantially, and informal and artisanal mining expanded significantly. Now that peace has returned to most of the country and a new democratically elected Government is in place, the potential for the mining sector to contribute to economic growth is excellent. However, achieving growth with governance depends on three principal internal and external factors. The first of these, international commodity prices, is largely out of the Government's control. The second factor, political stability, is clearly critical to growth of the sector; however, a detailed discussion of this factor is outside the scope of this study. The third factor, rent-seeking culture, is at the heart of the challenge that the Government must overcome to ensure sustained sector growth with good governance. The probable future decline and fluctuation of commodity prices has several implications for the mining sector in DRC. First, the amount of investment funding available for minerals exploration and investment falls or rises in tandem with the commodity prices. During the first quarter of 2008 there has already been a significant fall-off in the amount of funding for smaller companies in the international exchanges, due in part to the financial turbulence in the markets. This fall-off in investment funding could be exacerbated further by a significant downturn in commodities prices. Second, producing companies will generate lower revenues, and the government will have a consequent decline in fiscal receipts. Third, companies will face pressure to maximize their economies of scale, generally by increasing through-put in order to meet fixed costs. At the same time, because of lower sales revenues, companies will be forced to reduce operating costs, often by cutting staff and social services. Fourth, lower commodity prices will have a direct effect on the artisanal producers of mineral commodities, whose day-to-day dependence on the amounts earned in the mines renders them highly vulnerable to fluctuations.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth : Lessons for Eastern Europe and Central Asia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)This study explores public finance policies in the transition countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and their likely effects on economic growth. The analysis is organized in three parts. Part one reviews public finance systems across the ECA region with regard to overall size, structure of expenditures and revenues, and patterns of fiscal adjustment over time. It compares these patterns and trends in ECA countries against those in fast-growing economies in other regions, and it explores possible relationships between these public finance variables and rates of economic growth. Part two undertakes detailed analysis of public expenditures policies in four major areas: infrastructure, education, health, and pensions. Part three turns to the revenue side of the budget and looks in detail at two issues of particular importance in current policy debates: the impact of flat income tax reforms and the level and structure of taxes on labor.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.