The rally in the gold price will not be enough to prevent 2020 turning into the worst year in 15 for global exploration spending.
According to a new report by S&P Global Market Intelligence, outlays for exploration across the industry are set to drop from $9.3 billion in 2019 to $6.6 billion this year.
Despite a gold price approaching seven-year highs above $1,700 an ounce, money spent on drilling for the precious metal this year is likely to shrink by more than $800 million, compared to 2019.
Chris Galbraith, mining and metals analyst at S&P Global, says the vast majority of gold exploration is carried out by juniors and that sector remains under pressure.
According to S&P Global data, junior mining companies managed to raise $781 million during the first quarter, much of it in debt form, an almost 50% drop from the $1.54 billion in financings racked up in the final quarter of 2019.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/chart-mining-exploration-spending-to-drop-29-this-year/