The Fraser Institute published its Survey of Mining Companies 2013. There is a lot of great information here. A stat that jumped out at me is that companies in the survey report their exploration budgets shrank an average 26% in 2013 from 2012.
Other tidbits ...
"The mining exploration investment climate in Alaska has steadily degraded over the past two years"
Chile remains the top-ranked jurisdiction in South America. Venezuela remains the lowest ranked. "Venezuela is a horror story. If you have success, you can count on someone stealing it from you."
The Dominican Republic fell from 60th to 97th (out of 112). Ouch.
Argentina -- "The current currency control regulations make Argentina a terrible place to have an operation. Argentina is fine if you want to explore and spend money there, but ironically, it is a terrible place if you finally have success and create a profit-making operation."
Peru has been considered a top-notch place to mine, but note this warning. "Community decisions are not binding and subject to change at each local election, non-stop community meetings, huge increase in cocaine production and trafficking in Northern Peru."
Read the rest HERE
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