2021 Mining Survey—Executive Summary
This report presents the results of the Fraser Institute’s 2021 annual survey of mining and exploration companies. The survey is an attempt to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulatory uncertainty affect exploration investment. The survey was circulated electronically to approximately 2,200 individuals between August 23rd to November 19th, 2021. Survey responses have been tallied to rank provinces, states, and countries according to the extent that public policy factors encourage or discourage mining investment.
We received a total of 290 responses for the survey, providing sufficient data to evaluate 84 jurisdictions. By way of comparison, 77 jurisdictions were evaluated in 2020, 76 in 2019, 83 in 2018, and 91 in 2017. The number of jurisdictions that can be included in the study tends to wax and wane as the mining sector grows or shrinks due to commodity prices and sectoral factors. This year’s survey includes an analysis of permit times, as did last year’s survey.
