The extractives sector is one of the most concentrated and lucrative enterprises anywhere in the world. Limited competition raises questions of transparency and accountability with regard their profits, structures and systems. Revenues of the biggest mining multinational firms run to the billions of dollars, while they leave environments in often irreversible ruin, poison water and land, dislocate communities and destroy local livelihoods.
But these are not all that they extract from developing countries. Mining companies are also implicated in attempts to exploit generous fiscal incentives and loopholes in the law to dodge their tax obligations and thus further boost profits.