Prairies best place to invest: survey

Saskatchewan, Manitoba tops in world

Two Prairie provinces are the best places in the world to invest in mining, according to the Fraser Institute’s most recent survey of global mining companies.

Saskatchewan deposed Western Australia from the global top spot among 104 jurisdictions, as determined by a poll of mining executives.

Manitoba moved ahead 17 spots to rank second — thanks in part to a favourable tax regime — while the region Down Under fell to third. The results were based both on geological and policy attractiveness.

“Competitive tax regimes, efficient permitting procedures and certainty surrounding environmental regulations and land-claims have vaulted Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the top in the eyes of miners looking to invest,” said Kenneth Green, senior director of the Fraser Institute’s energy and natural resource studies.

Saskatchewan’s policy of staged and set time periods for getting permits was viewed positively, as was Manitoba’s industry tax rate.

Quebec was Canada’s third most attractive region for miners and ranked sixth overall. Yukon ranked 15th overall. Ontario slipped to 18th from 15th in last year’s survey while British Columbia fell further, from 18th last year to 27th in the most recent survey.

The Fraser Institute cited uncertainty over indigenous land claims and over which areas will be protected as the major reason those two provinces slipped in popularity.

Canada’s overall attractiveness improved in 2016 and the Institute found the country’s provinces tended to be faster at exploration permitting than international peers, but noted there was room for improvement, noting that B.C. and the territories were particularly slow.

“Time is money, and if permit approval times are unnecessarily long or lack transparency, confidence plummets, overall costs increase and investors will take their money elsewhere,” Green said.

The survey found Nova Scotia was the least attractive for mining investment, followed by Alberta. Alberta slipped the most of any Canadian jurisdiction, moving down to 28th globally from 7th in 2015, based on what miners see as unattractive policies.

Miners cited regulatory overlap and inconsistencies as well as uncertainty over protected areas and over the interpretation or enforcement of existing regulations.

Many of the worst jurisdictions were regions in Argentina, while the bottom of the list also included countries such as Venezuela, Afghanistan, India, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The Fraser Institute has published the survey since 1997.