Extract-A-Fact Newsletter – October 2017

PWYP-US Extract-A-Fact Newsletter

October 2017

In 2013, Oxfam and ROTAB, a Nigerien NGO – both members of Publish What You Pay – launched a campaign denouncing the unbalanced partnership between Areva and Niger and calling for the renegotiation of the contracts. Oxfam and ROTAB specifically pointed that Areva’s contracts included a sweetheart clause enabling Areva to pay a lower rate of royalty than the applicable regime in Niger. Royalties make up the majority of uranium mining revenues to the Nigerien government. Read more…

Caledonia’s ESTMA Report: Accountability Opportunities in Zimbabwe
In an environment where a chorus from communities, CSOs and government on improved transparency in the mining sector is strong and persistent, what accountability opportunities and challenges does Caledonia’s Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA)Report present? This blog explores if there is added value from Caledonia’s ESTMA report to the Publish What You Pay campaign in Zimbabwe. Read more…

To stop losing mining revenues, dig the details 
In countries like Zambia, where extractive industries contribute a significant portion of the country’s overall revenues, preventing aggressive tax avoidance is all the more critical for reducing inequality. This is especially true now in the context of Zambia’s fiscal crisis as the country turns to the IMF and capital markets for fiscal support. Read more…

How Zimbabweans persuaded diamond companies and government to listen
By backing residents’ concerns with data, Sibanda said, “we are simply trying to level the playing field.” Ill-informed, angry people are easy for companies and politicians to ignore; a united front of community leaders bearing spreadsheets are far more persuasive. The community organisations have bought into the idea, gathering in mining towns across Zimbabwe to learn about budgets, taxes and corporate social responsibility. Read more…

Time for London’s Alternative Investment Market to embrace extractives transparency 
​Approximately 200 oil, gas and mining companies trade on AIM. Although generally smaller than LSE Main Market companies, AIM companies have grown over the years. AIM extractive companies’ combined market capitalisation runs into the billions of pounds, which can make them significant actors relative to the size of host country economies where many citizens are still desperately poor. Read more…

Twelve Red Flags: Corruption Risks in the Award of Extractive Sector Licenses and Contracts 
Oversight actors can detect and prevent corruption in the oil, gas and mining sectors if they ask the right questions. Corruption schemes can be complex and opaque, yet clear patterns and similar signs of problematic behavior do exist across resource-rich countries. Read more…

How Many Governments Are Disclosing Oil, Gas and Mining Licenses and Contracts?
It has been notoriously difficult for citizens in resource-rich countries to lay hands on extractive industry contracts and licenses between their governments and private sector extractive companies. But that seems to be changing. For a new report, Past the Tipping Point?, Don Hubert and I reviewed contract disclosure practice and policy in more than 50 countries and we were intrigued to find that 29 governments—well over half—were disclosing at least some of their extractives contract or licenses. Read more…

From the archive:
Who Owns Oil Rights in the Gulf of Mexico? Use our tool to find out! 

The interactive tool, depicted above, pulls together multiple datasets from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to create a useful tool for advocates. Read more…

Click here to sign up for our newsletter