The central argument made by the report is that African governments have not been able to optimize the mining tax revenue due to them before the 2003 to 2008 price boom; neither have they been able to capture the anticipated windfalls during the price boom. This argument is grounded on two main reasons: (i) Mining companies operating in Africa are granted too many tax subsidies and concessions (ii) There is high incidence of tax avoidance by mining companies conditioned by such measures as secret mining contracts, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and various ‘creative’ accounting mechanisms. [refers to Anglo Platinum (part of Anglo American), AngloGold Ashanti, Barrick Gold, First Quantum, Equinox Minerals, Ernst and Young, Impala Platinum, Katanga Mining, Koidu Holdings (part of Beny Steinmetz Group), Lonmin, Paladin Africa, Sierra Rutile, Vedanta]