Why kill the goose that lays the golden eggs : ceterum censeo...

It seems with regular intervals governments revisit the idea to impose / increase a government royalty or slap a windfall-tax on mining companies over and above corporate income tax. Backers of these plans represent a common view: that mining companies are profiteering from a non-renewable resource, which is transported away by foreign mining companies with little benefit to locals. The problem with the argument is that it discredits the benefit that citizens are receiving from their natural resource and the risk undertaken by the mining industry that allowed for the benefit.