As reported by Bloomberg. com, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Fund Manager, Ian Henderson has sold off a quarter of his stake in mining giants BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Ltd.

The report on Bloomberg. com claims that the development has taken place due to the announcement of the Federal Government's proposed resources super profit tax.

Mr. Henderson, a Manager of $US7 billion ($A8.4 billion) in natural-resource assets, sold the stake as he was concerned that the proposed tax would curb growth in the industry, the report highlighted.

Mr. Henderson told Bloomberg. com, “It’s been a wake-up call frankly. I had not thought that the changes in Australia would be quite as drastic as they are proposed to be”.

Commenting on the tax, Mr. Henderson said the RSPT has clearly diminished the attractions of developing new projects in Australia and investment in Australian-based mining ventures.

In another report in The Australian Financial Review, questions have been raised on the tax figures that BHP claims it had paid to the Australian Government in the debate over the RSPT.

In the wake of the questions, BHP insists that it paid $6.3 billion in taxes last year including income tax, petroleum resource rent tax and royalties.

However, the AFR reports claim that BHP’s detailed financial statements reflect that the miner in fact had an ‘Australian taxation expense’ of $3.16 billion for the year.