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Mining and industry representatives urge state investment tools to help finance large projects
Summary
Industry speakers said Wyoming lacks state-level investment tools and loan instruments to seed large private projects and suggested the treasurer's sovereign funds or loan programs could be structured to attract follow-on private finance.
Representatives of the Mining Association and US Gold Corp told the committee they encounter financing gaps for large resource projects and urged the state to consider tools to provide initial, structured investment or loan support to attract private capital.
Jason Baker of US Gold described a gold-copper project that obtained major permits after about $30 million in company investment and warned that financiers see Wyoming’s lack of a dedicated in-state investment program as a “bad market signal.” He suggested loan or low-cost financing programs, possibly tied to sovereign-wealth or state investment funds, could help close initial financing gaps for projects with multihundred-million-dollar capital needs.
Committee members and industry witnesses discussed existing bonding programs and constitutional limits on direct state investment, which have led to work-arounds that make state offerings less competitive. The industry witnesses favored a loan rather than a grant structure for commercially vetted projects and urged the committee to study possible models (e.g., Alaska’s sovereign fund investment or North Dakota’s Bank of North Dakota) rather than rely solely on existing bonding mechanisms.
No legislation was adopted; industry requested interim study of state investment tools and financing structures.
