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An annual report that may affect billions of dollars in investment decisions has a weak process to rank countries, provinces and states for mining projects, researchers say. The Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, a research group that has claimed climate change is natural weather events, has published an annual list of mining jurisdictions in order of industry preference since 1997. It’s based on a survey sent to nearly 2,000 people at mining and exploration companies, the institute says.
The survey is being criticized by researchers at the Luleå University of Technology in northern Sweden. The ranking is merely an opinion poll of less than 200 respondents, or 9%, whose answers are fed into a process without clear definitions of political stability, labour markets nor geology, they say in a new report.
“The ranking outcomes do not constitute a meaningful scorecard that countries can employ to improve their mining-related policies,” researcher Magnus Ericsson said in a recent phone interview. “Neither do the results from the survey help investors make better decisions.”
The institute says the industry appreciates the ranking, even if it’s only a rough guide. “The positive feedback we receive from various stakeholders—including miners, policymakers, and investors—reinforces our belief in our annual survey’s efficacy and usefulness,” Bryn Weese, the institute’s head spokesperson, said by email on Thursday.
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