Russia's Finance Ministry looking into possibly of providing tax incentives for projects involving new rare earth metals

MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - Russia's Finance Ministry is looking into the possibility of providing tax incentives to companies implementing new projects for the extraction of rare earth metals (REM), and has requested models for developing theses deposits in order to assess the feasibility.

"The matter of investing in new projects is under discussion every day regarding rare earth metals. We say that if these are new investment projects, new extraction, then for such projects the approach of 'privilege in exchange for investment' is possible," Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov told reporters.

"We have asked interested parties, companies, for financial and economic models for the development of new deposits in order to assess the feasibility of providing such incentives. We are now waiting for information from them," Sazanov said

Meetings with companies were held in May-June, Sazanov specified.

Sazanov previously said that the Finance Ministry was ready to consider proposals for preferential tax regimes for REM projects, but only if they were operating "at zero" or "at a loss." "Only if this is some kind of extreme situation, then we will consider it," he emphasized.

Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov on Wednesday said that said that the ministry was working with potential investors on about 20 REM production projects. Alikhanov also said the previous day that the Industry and Trade Ministry and the Finance Ministry were jointly developing tax breaks for these projects.