By Josephine Patterson
Utah is the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for mining investment followed by Nevada and Saskatchewan, according to the Fraser Institute’s 2023 annual mining survey. The ranking is based on the jurisdictions’ overall investment, mining policy, and geological attractiveness.
“The Fraser Institute’s mining survey is the most comprehensive report on government policies that either attract or discourage mining investors, and this year Utah ranks highest of anywhere in the world,” said Elmira Aliakbari, director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Natural Resource Studies and co-author of the report. Utah had moved up from 17th place in 2022, while Nevada dropped to second from first place. Nevada has ranked consistently in the top 10 over the last 10 surveys.
A total of 293 respondents participated in the survey providing sufficient data to evaluate 86 jurisdictions around the world. When assessing policy factors alone, Utah still led the ranking followed by Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Botswana, Nevada, Quebec, Arizona, Finland, Wyoming and Alberta.
“A sound regulatory regime coupled with competitive taxes make a jurisdiction attractive to investors,” Aliakbari said.
“Policymakers across the globe should understand that mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract investment.”
The authors of the report noted that some Canadian jurisdictions are not capitalizing on their strong mineral potential due to a lack of a solid policy environment that would attract investment. For instance, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, despite being among the top 10 most attractive jurisdictions for mineral endowment, rank 28th and 45th, respectively, when considering policy factors alone.
Furthermore, British Columbia continues to perform poorly on the policy front largely due to investor concerns over disputed land claims and protected areas.
“Overall, we see that uncertainty surrounding protected areas, land claims disputes and environmental regulations continue to hinder mining investment in various Canadian Jurisdictions,” the authors said.
According to the Fraser Institute, the least-attractive jurisdiction for mining investment is Niger. In fact, Africa is home to the most jurisdictions in the bottom 10: Niger (86th), Mozambique (82nd), Zimbabwe (81st) and Senegal (80th). Zimbabwe has placed in the bottom 10 mining jurisdictions in the previous 10 editions of the Fraser Institute’s mining survey.
