Quebec announced a new mining tax regime Monday, requiring all mining firms to pay royalties, and increasing taxes on highly profitable operations.

The government said that all mining operations will be required to pay a minimum mining tax, which was not the case previously. From now on, all mine operators active in Quebec will have to pay a mining tax. The royalty rate will be set at 1% for the first $80 million of ore extracted. After that, the rate will be 4% of the value of ore extracted.

Additionally, mining corporations will be required to pay the greater of two amounts, either the minimum mining tax or the mining tax on profits, it notes.

The new regime is to come into force as of Jan. 1, 2014. By 2020, the government expects revenue to rise by between $73 and $200 million per year, including $50 million for fiscal 2015. The additional revenue will vary depending on resource prices on world markets and mining operation profits, it says; adding that this will go to debt repayment.

“The government’s ambition is to make Quebec one of the most prosperous places in the world by relying as a priority on private investment,” says the province’s minister of finance and the economy, Nicolas Marceau.

“We estimate that over 12 years, total additional revenues collected for the benefit of Quebecers will range between $770 million and $1.8 billion,” he said, noting that if the new regime applied from 2000 to 2011, the government would have received $559 million more in mining tax than what was collected during that period.

The new regime also includes incentives to increase processing activity in Quebec, including measures to create more processing jobs in upcoming legislation; a 10-year tax holiday for large investment projects; and, the possibility that the government may take an equity stake in projects that involve processing.

“We believe that with this basket of measures, more Quebec ore will be processed here, both in terms of non-traditional metals, like lithium and rare earths, and traditional ore like iron and nickel,” said minister of natural resources, Martine Ouellet.

It also wants more responsible development of mining resources in order to better protect the environment. And, Ouellet said that it will require more disclosure from firms, which will enable Quebeckers to know how much each operator pays in royalties.