Nevada top-ranked U.S. state; Finland most attractive worldwide in global mining survey

CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 22, 2018 -- Nevada is the third most attractive jurisdiction in the world for mining investment, behind only Finland (1st) and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan (2nd), according to the Annual Survey of Mining Companies released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian policy think-tank.

“Rich mineral reserves, competitive taxes, efficient permitting procedures and certainty around environmental regulations will still attract significant investment—even with slumping commodity prices,” said Kenneth Green, senior director of the Fraser Institute’s energy and natural resource studies.

This year’s survey of mining executives rates 91 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness for minerals and metals and the extent to which government policies encourage or deter exploration and investment.

Overall, investment attractiveness fell slightly around the world.

In Australia, every jurisdiction received lower scores on policy this year, indicating increasingly unattractive government regulations across the country. Western Australia ranked 5^th overall, followed by Queensland (12) and South Australia (14).

As a whole, Australia—which ranked as the most attractive region overall last year—has fallen to 2^nd this year after Canada. The U.S. is the third most attractive region overall, followed by Europe.

In South America, Chile (8^th) has jumped back into the top 10 having tumbled to 39^th last year. And Peru, which ranked 28^th last year, also rose to 19^th in this year’s survey. Argentina is also much more attractive for mining investment this year, with the country’s overall score increasing by more than 50 per cent.

“Capital is fluid and one jurisdiction’s loss can be another’s gain because mining investors will flock to jurisdictions that have attractive policies,” Green said.

“Sound regulatory regimes are an absolute must for policymakers who want to attract increasingly precious commodity investments.”

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kenneth Green, Senior Director, Natural Resource Studies
Fraser Institute

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org