Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd released a paper by a CET academic at the African Union Congress in Ethiopia last week.
Research Professor Pietro Guj produced one of the first "best practice" guides to Australian mining development for the International Mining for Development Centre (IM4DC).
The paper was distributed at the Addis Ababa function as part of the Mining for Development in Africa package and will also be distributed at this week's Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mineral royalties and other mining-specific taxes reviewed government imposed levies on the mining industry to determine whether communities were receiving the maximum benefits. The review put an emphasis on Australia and identified enforcement and administration issues that needed to be addressed for governments to achieve a best practice mining tax and mineral royalties system.
In his address Mr Rudd said Australia was one of the biggest mining companies in the world and committed to engagement with Africa's mining sector.
"We are determined to use Australian expertise to help African
countries, through training and technical assistance, to manage their
resources so that they spur economic development," he said.
The research was produced for the IM4DC, a collaboration between the Australian Government,
University of Western Australia and University of Queensland that works
towards establishing the sustainable use of mining and energy resources
in developing countries in order to improve the standard of living.
IM4DC Interim Director Ian Satchwell said AusAid was very pleased with the paper.
For more information and links to the work see the IM4DC resource page.