A NATIONAL MINERAL POLICY AS A REGULATORY TOOL

Since 1985, over 90 nations have introduced, or are now working on, ne w or major revisions to legislation pertinent to the mining industry, In many of these nations, including developed, developing and transiti on economy nations, efforts to reform mineral regulatory systems have been slow to proceed, The author argues that to facilitate such regula tory reform, it can be useful to undertake changes within the framewor k of a comprehensive, consensually derived and articulated national mi neral policy, To illustrate the types of subject matter that might be addressed in such a policy, a list of possible policy issues are prese nted in a tabular form, The author does not attempt to prioritise or r ecommend any particular policy goals and objectives, rather he conclud es that a national mineral policy must be tailored to reflect the indi vidual requirements of each nation, (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.