Saskatchewan 2nd-most attractive place to mine in world
A recent survey says Saskatchewan is one of the most attractive places in the world for mining companies.
According to the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, executives placed Saskatchewan as the second most attractive locale in the world to invest behind Finland.
"What the survey captures are things that increase confidence in the regulatory regime," said Kenneth Green, Senior Director of Energy and Natural Resources with the Fraser Institute. "High level of confidence in the stability of the tax regime, stability of the royalty regime, the solidity of land rights or leases."
In 2014, Green said Saskatchewan moved steadily up the ranks in the survey's policy index. He said improvements in infrastructure and geologic databases helped significantly.
"Saskatchewan (also) ranked very highly for security," Green said. "When you look around the world, there are mining jurisdictions where even basic physical security of the miners is not necessarily guaranteed."
It's not clear whether the survey's results will translate into increased activity from companies — at least in the short term. While commodity prices remain uncertain for now, Green believes the province's mining industry has a bright future over the coming years.
"Growth is going to resume, China and India are going to develop, and they're going to want to buy things that we, in the developed world, enjoy, and that raises our quality of life," he said.
Four other Canadian provinces cracked the survey's global top ten: Manitoba, Quebec, Newfoundland and Yukon.
