Fortescue offers shares for best anti-mining tax slogan

FORTESCUE Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest says he has received fantastic responses to his call for an anti-mining tax slogan.

FORTESCUE Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest says he has received fantastic responses to his call for an anti-mining tax slogan.

The billionaire executive yesterday pledged to award $5,000 worth of Fortescue shares to the person who penned the best slogan against the Federal Government's planned mineral resources rent tax (MRRT).

Mr Forrest said some of the best so far included "Miners Rights Rip-Off Tax'' and "Mad Resources Rushed Tax''.

He said it was possible to tax the industry "out of existence''.

"We're better off investing those funds than Canberra is,'' he told the Diggers and Dealers mining conference in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

"We know how to invest our profit to grow the industry.''

Mr Forrest said Australia was far from being starved for resources, but it was "starved for capital''.

The company recently shelved $17 billion worth of projects including Solomon, which Mr Forrest said was "probably the most valuable undeveloped project in the world'', because financiers weren't prepared to back them due to the new mining tax.