WASHINGTON - Zimbabwe has been ranked as the least attractive place in the world for investment in the mining sector followed by Mozambique, South Sudan and Angola.
In its latest 2022 annual survey of mining and exploration companies in the world, the Fraser Institute said other unattractive investment destinations are Zambia, South Africa, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea, and Tanzania.
The Fraser Institute said Africa is the region with the most unattractive investment jurisdictions (8) in the bottom 10 and Asia and Oceania both have one jurisdiction each in the bottom 10.
The Fraser Institute used the Policy Perception Index (PPI), a “report card” to governments on the attractiveness of their mining policies and the Investment Attractiveness Index, which took both mineral and policy perception into consideration in conducting the survey.
“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.”
The Fraser Institute said Nevada ranked first in the survey with the highest PPI score of 100, moving it up from sixth place in the previous version of the report. Botswana took the second spot held by Morocco (which dropped out of the top 10) in 2021. Along with Nevada and Botswana, the top 10 ranked jurisdictions are South Australia, Utah, Newfoundland & Labrador, Alberta, Arizona, New Brunswick, Colorado, and Western Australia.
The United States is the region with the greatest number of jurisdictions (4) in the top 10 followed by Canada (3), Australia (2), and Africa (1), according to the Fraser Institute.
In its report, the Fraser Institute said, “While it is useful to measure the attractiveness of a jurisdiction based on policy factors such as onerous regulations, taxation levels, the quality of infrastructure, and the other policy related questions that respondents answered, the Policy Perception Index alone does not recognize the fact that investment decisions are often to a considerable extent based on the pure mineral potential of a jurisdiction. … Respondents consistently indicate that approximately 40 percent of their investment decision is determined by policy factors.”
The Fraser Institute noted that the survey is an attempt to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulatory uncertainty affect exploration investment.
Out of a total of 1,966 individuals targeted in the survey, the Fraser Institute received 180 responses. It evaluated 84 jurisdictions in 2021, 77 in 2020, 76 in 2019, and 83 in 2018.