Alternative Ways of Financing in the Global Mining: ECA Export Credit Agencies

Abstract

Nowadays, mining enterprises are perceived through the prism of “the black PR, what causes the general reluctance of the financial market and the withdrawal of the traditional financial institutions from providing capital in the form of debt for the mining industry. “While spending from national budgets on coal fell, as did tax breaks for it, other forms of support - from development finance institutions, export-credit agencies – soared.” [1] This article analyses the possibilities of using these sources depending on the life cycle phase of a geological and mining project. In the following part of the article, the main attention is paid to ECAs, which offer much more opportunities than traditional banks, among others: chipper credits, longer terms of credits and tax exemptions. The article presents the largest Export Credit Agencies in the world and indicates their characteristic features compared to conventional sources of financing. The largest financing countries, as well as acquiring such capital in relation to the mining industry, were identified.