Mining investment to grow ever more complex, costly, industry leaders fear – Baker & McKenzie – by Dorothy Kosich (September 17, 2012)

www.mineweb.com

“Mining jurisdictions must consider their competitiveness to mining investment or risk that investment being deployed elsewhere, said David Ryan of Baker & McKenzie, Australia.

RENO (MINEWEB) –  A survey of 300 mining industry leaders released Monday by the Baker & McKenzie, Australia, Global Mining Group found the common theme across all jurisdictions surveyed is that “investing in mining is becoming more difficult and less certain.”
 
Key themes from the study include the complexity of the legal and regulatory environment, political stability, increase in resource nationalism, and the need for access to infrastructure and skilled labor.
 
One theme that all jurisdictions seemed to have is common is that a majority of respondents said they believe that mining sector investment will continue to be more complicated in the future.

Baker & McKenzie surveyed more than 300 senior mining industry leaders across six key mining jurisdictions-Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia and South Africa-for the report Mining investment-local challenges, global implications. 
When asked about their nation’s mining outlook for the future, Brazilian respondents were the most optimistic. “Those commenting on Australia were the least optimistic about the future with 66% agreeing that the investment climate will be more complicated in the future,” said the report. Sixty-three percent in China, 58% in South Africa, 52% in Indonesia, and 54% in Canada are also pessimistic.
 
POLITICAL STABILITY
 
“The mining community sees Canada as the most politically stable country of those our research covers, with 88% believing this factor encourages investment.
 
However, 55% of the respondents considered political stability a discouraging factor in South Africa, due to concerns about the policy positions of the governing African National Congress party.
 
Seventy-one percent of those surveyed considered Canadian government and support for subsidies for exploration or mining operations encourages investment. In China, this figure was 53% and in Australia 51%
 
“In South African, 53% believed the level of government intervention discouraged investment in their mining sector. Indonesia and Brazil fared only marginally better with 43% and 40% respectively.”
 
The survey found that in South Africa, 78% of the respondents considered that “corruption, bribery and crime issues discourage investment.” The figures were also very high in Brazil (60%), China (63%) and Indonesia (75%).
 
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