Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has denied talk of a swift deal with miners over his controversial mining tax. This came as global mining company BHP Billiton rejected a rumoured compromise affecting the nation's top export sector.
More than $20 billion of new resource investment in Australia has already been put on hold by global miners due to the tax, set to start in 2012. Rudd is losing voter support over the tax ahead of elections expected in October.
'I think we have got weeks and probably months of consultations yet with the major mining companies,' Rudd told local TV, responding to media reports a compromise was close.
Shares in BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group, Rio Tinto Ltd and Xstrata all rose in London and Australia on hopes for a deal.
There is widespread speculation that Australia will water down its planned 40% mine profits tax by re-modelling it along the lines of an existing tax on the offshore oil and gas industry.
BHP Billiton Chairman Jac Nasser rejected such a move, saying it was not a solution. BHP's chief executive Marius Kloppers, who held talks with Rudd this week, told a Sydney newspaper he could see no end to the dispute over the 'super profits' tax.
The government defends the tax, saying it will not stall investment, as miners claim, and it will give Australian workers a fairer share of returns in the booming resources sector.
