Botswana and Namibia Rank High in Annual Mining Company Survey

(IDEX Online News) – Diamond producers Botswana and Namibia have achieved top rankings in the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies.

The Fraser Institute compiled a ranking for 112 jurisdictions based on their policy attractiveness, government uncertainty, environmental regulations, legal system, taxation, infrastructure, trade barriers, labor, geological databases and security on which it established a policy perception index (PPI).

Botswana was ranked at No 25 and Namibia at 34. Meanwhile Nunavut and the NorthWest Territories in Canada were ranked at 44 and 47 respectively.

South Africa was placed at No 64 and Liberia at 66, while the Democratic Republic of Congo came in ahead of Russia with respective positions of 85 and 91.

Among other diamond mining countries, Sierra Leone is at 96, Cote d'Ivoire whose diamond exports are under a UN ban, was at 105, Angola, which takes over as Vice-Chair of the Kimberley Process (KP) next year, is at No 108, just above Venezuela, which suspended itself from the KP, at No 111.

The top countries and regions for mining and exploration investment were Sweden, Finland, Alberta, Ireland, Wyoming, Western Australia, New Brunswick, Nevada, Newfoundland & Labrador and Norway.

The Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies was sent to approximately 4,100 exploration, development, and other mining-related companies around the world.

A total of 742 responses were received for the survey, providing sufficient data to evaluate 96 jurisdictions. By way of comparison, 93 jurisdictions were evaluated in 2011/2012, 79 in 2010/2011, and 72 in 2009/2010.