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The chief executive of major new Pilbara iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG), Andrew Forrest, granite crusher has called on new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to debate the new Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) that replaced the unpopular resource super profit tax (RSPT) put together by Treasurer Wayne Swan and then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

The reaction to the RSPT was a prime reason why Kevin Rudd was ousted a few weeks ago and replaced by Gillard, who at the weekend called a general election after fresh polling showed the Australian Labor Party had either matched or were again ahead of the Liberal coalition opposition.

Forrest said today that he not only wanted this MRRT discussed openly with Julia Gillard but also with leader of the Greens Party, Bob Brown.

"Senator Brown appears severely misinformed about the benefits that he himself enjoys from the mining industry," Forrest said.

Fortescue had reviewed the limited publicly available information on the MRRT and had serious concerns about the impact of the tax on future cobble stone crusher development of regional mining infrastructure.

He said the company had identified that established companies, which deny third party access to their rail and port infrastructure in the Pilbara, will receive more favourable treatment than new miners and other infrastructure developers who provide third party access to their systems.

"We are at a stage in Australia where we have to develop infrastructure to export our resources. Not every company has the financial capacity or resource capability to develop their own infrastructure.

"It is a necessity for any Government to promote infrastructure development which is available for third party use. This tax fails to incentivise investment in new infrastructure so needed by small miners with undeveloped projects," he said.

He said the other 99% of iron ore and coal mining companies were excluded from the negotiations which led to the design of the MRRT and they deserved better than being asked to meet with a committee after the election.

"The rest of the Australian mining industry, which is working to deliver the major job growth opportunities for all Australians, has not had a word of consultation but is being asked to believe that everything will be dealt with after the election," he said.

"Frankly, that is just not good enough. We have major concerns about the design of the MRRT and its ability to raise the A$10.5 billion (US$9.19 billion). If it fails to achieve that revenue, where will the money come from?

"More than likely it will come from a redesign of this tax proposal – it will come from greater demands on the iron ore and coal mining industry."

Forrest said Fortescue had written to the Prime Minister asking specifically for amendments in the MRRT to address the treatment of fluorite crusher infrastructure in calculating taxable profit and in the starting base. In addition Fortescue stated that the following would need to be addressed:

• Interest deductibility;
• Dropping the bias against infrastructure that serves the public;
• An increase in the uplift rate to reflect actual costs of finance; and
• The exclusion of magnetite from the MRRT.

Forrest said Fortescue disputed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s assessment that the mining industry had agreed to the MRRT and that Australians would get a better return from this commodity boom.