Nevada Earns Top Spot In 2018 Fraser Institute Min
Post# of 2057
Neils Christensen
Neils Christensen Friday March 01, 2019 16:20
(Kitco News) - Barrick Gold’s hostile bid for Newmont Mining is ultimately a battle for Nevada, which would not be surprising to some as it is now the world’s top mining jurisdiction, according to the Fraser Institute’s 2018 Annual Survey of Mining Companies.
According to the latest results in the global mining survey, Nevada last year jumped from third place to the top spot, pushing past Finland and Saskatchewan. The rest of the top 10 mining jurisdictions in the world were Western Australia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Alaska, Chile, Utah, Arizona, Yukon and Northwest Territories. Finland, which was the top mining jurisdiction in 2017 dropped to 17th place.
The five worst mining jurisdictions were Venezuela, followed by Neuquen, Nicaragua and Guatemala and Panama.
Looking at Countries as a whole, Canada earned the top spot for the second consecutive year, followed by Australian with the U.S. coming in third and Europe in fourth place.
“The evidence is clear—mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract precious commodity investment dollars,” said Ashley Stedman, a senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and study co-author, said in a press release. “A sound regulatory regime coupled with competitive fiscal policies is key to making a jurisdiction attractive in the eyes of mining investors.”
The report noted that investment attractiveness improved in most regions around the world, compared to a drop in sentiment reported last year.
Turning back to Nevada, the state’s growth potential in Nevada was a significant reason for Barrick Gold’s unsolicited hostile bid for Newmont Mining earlier in the week.
“The combination of Barrick and Newmont will create what is clearly the world’s best gold company, with the largest portfolio of Tier One gold assets,” Barrick Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said in recent a statement regarding the company’s proposal. “Most important, it will enable us to consider our Nevada assets as one complex.”
To sell his proposal, Bristow also said that potential synergies between the two companies’ Nevada operations would generate as much as $7 billion in shareholder value. Newmont has 19 mines in the state, adjacent to Barrick’s own operations.
Newmont has rejected the proposal, which was made below the company’s current market value. Company CEO Gary Goldberg said that they see better value in pursuing their proposed merger with Goldcorp.
For its 2918 mining survey, the Fraser Institute received a total of 291 responses for the survey, providing sufficient data to evaluate 83 jurisdictions.
By Neils Christensen
For Kitco News
Contact nchristensen@kitco.com
www.kitco.com