WA ‘displaced’ as top mining investment destination on regulatory and policy concerns

WA has plunged down a global list of the world’s best mining destinations, with survey respondents citing approval delays and policy uncertainty.

The annual mining survey by Canada’s Fraser Institute has the State falling from fourth to 17th in 2024 as Finland was catapulted into No.1 position, replacing Utah.

Nevada and Alaska rounded out the top three.

For the first time in recent memory, Australia did not make the survey’s top-10 mining jurisdictions by investment attractiveness.

The institute ranks the world’s mining destinations by measuring their practices, mineral potential and regulatory and fiscal policies based on a survey of more than 2200 companies.

There are doubts, however, how representative the poll is.

The 2024 survey, undertaken between August and December, is based on 350 responses, with rankings determined on a response threshold of just five.

The Fraser Institute said WA ranked 17th on investment attractiveness and 18th on policy, down from 4th in 2021. It was also ranked 18th for hosting geology that encourages exploration, behind Russia and the Philippines.

“Respondents expressed increasing concerns over Western Australia’s uncertainty concerning disputed land claims, regulatory duplication and inconsistencies, and its taxation regime,” the survey report authors said.

However, NSW and Queensland experienced the most significant declines in policy perceptions, sending them tumbling down the rankings, from 13th to 39th and 30th to 62nd respectively.

South Australia went from 19th to 35th, and the Northern Territory sank from 8th to 38th.

Finland was one of five new entrants in the Fraser Institute’s 2024 top-10 along with Alaska, Wyoming, Sweden and Norway, with the group displacing WA, Utah, Manitoba, Quebec, the Northern Territory and Ontario.

The Republic of Ireland, a major producer of zinc, beat out Finland for the world’s most supportive policies, with Northern Ireland also in the policy perception index’s top-10

Ethiopia was rated the least least attractive investment jurisdiction, followed by Suriname, Niger, Nova Scotia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Guinea and Minnesota.