Western Australia is now the world’s most attractive jurisdiction for mining and mineral exploration investment, according to the 2019 Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies.
The state was ranked second to Nevada last year.
South Australia rose from its position of 24th in 2018, moving into the world’s top 10 for investment attractiveness to sixth. Both the Northern Territory (13th) and Queensland (15th) remained relatively steady, while Tasmania made significant inroads, jumping from 55th to 22nd in 2019.
Victoria (43rd) and New South Wales (47th) again rated the lowest jurisdictions in Australia for both investment attractiveness and policy perception.
“The mining survey is the most comprehensive report on government policies that either attract or discourage mining investors,” said Ashley Stedman, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report.
The survey of mining executives ranks 76 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness (minerals and metals) and government policies that encourage or deter exploration and investment.
“A sound regulatory regime coupled with competitive taxes are key to making a jurisdiction attractive to investors,” Stedman said.
Overall, when considering both policy and mineral potential, Australia retained its position as the second most attractive region in the world for investment, with Western Australia (1st) and South Australia (6th) appearing in the global top 10 jurisdictions on the Investment Attractiveness Index.
Canada fell from 1st to 3rd, and Europe jumped to 1st.
However, all of the Australian jurisdictions saw declines in their Policy Perception Index (PPI) scores this year in comparison with 2018 results. Despite its boost in investment attractiveness, Tasmania had the greatest decrease in its PPI score (-10.8 points since last year) of any Australian jurisdiction.
When evaluating Tasmania, miners expressed increased concern about the uncertainty regarding the administration, interpretation, or enforcement of existing regulations (+34 points), regulatory duplication and inconsistencies (+25 points), and the availability of labour/ skills (+20 points).
Queensland saw its PPI score decline by almost 8 points this year, and its rank of 31st (of 76) was similar to last year. Respondents cited increased concerns about uncertainty concerning disputed land claims (+10 points), socioeconomic agreements and community development conditions (+6 points), and security (+5 points).
This year’s least-attractive jurisdictions include Tanzania, Argentina (Chubut and La Rioja) and Guatemala.
What is the PPI survey?
The Policy Perception Index (PPI), is a composite index that measures the overall policy attractiveness of the 76 jurisdictions in the survey. The index is composed of survey responses to policy factors that affect investment decisions.
Policy factors examined include uncertainty concerning the administration of current regulations, 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, labor regulations, quality of the geological database, security, and labor and skills availability.
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