UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Haiti’s government hopes to introduce a new mining law within six months that could set royalty rates of between 9 and 12 percent in an effort to ensure that the impoverished country benefits from its mineral wealth, potentially worth $20 billion, the prime minister said Wednesday.
Haiti is seeking to update nearly 40-year-old mining laws in an effort to reap benefits from the little known-industry. The Associated Press reported in May that two mining companies have begun drilling for gold, copper and silver in Haiti’s northeastern mountains. They say testing indicates the metals could be worth $20 billion, potentially an enormous boon for a country whose annual budget is $1 billion and where most people live on less than $2 a day. Actual mining is years away.
