Original article by Tess Ingram, Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 29-May-17

The Western Australian Government may seek to have BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto pay their iron ore production levies upfront for a number of years, as part of its strategy to address the state’s rising debt and Budget deficit. Premier Mark McGowan says buying out the lease rental fee of $A0.25 per tonne is one of the options under consideration. Peter Strachan of StockAnalysis questions whether BHP and Rio Tinto would agree to such a deal, given the difficulty of forecasting their annual production rates over the long-term.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF TREASURY AND FINANCE, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, STOCK ANALYSIS AUSTRALASIA PTY LTD, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD, THE CHAMBER OF MINERALS AND ENERGY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY