Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies ...

This report presents the results of the Fraser Institute’s 2012/2013 annual survey of mining and exploration companies to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulation affect exploration investment. The survey responses have been tallied to rank provinces, states, and countries according to the extent that public policy factors encourage or discourage investment. Policy factors examined include uncertainty concerning the administration of current regulations and environmental regulations, regulatory duplication, the legal system and taxation regime, uncertainty concerning protected areas and disputed land claims, infrastructure, socioeconomic and community development conditions, trade barriers, political stability, labour regulations, quality of geological database, security, labour and skills supply, corruption, and uncertainty. Investment intentions and commodity price expectations are also examined.

A total of 742 responses were received for the survey, providing sufficient data to evaluate 96 jurisdictions. By way of comparison, 93 jurisdictions were evaluated in 2011/2012, 79 in 2010/2011, and 72 in 2009/2010. Jurisdictions are evaluated on every continent except Antarctica, including sub-national jurisdictions in Canada, Australia, the United States, and Argentina. This year, French Guiana, Greece, Serbia, and the sub-national jurisdictions of La Rioja and Neuquen in Argentina were added to the survey.