Québec ranked first worldwide for its investment climate
in mineral exploration Sylvain Lacroix
Direction de la politique et de l'économie minérales

In the fifth Annual Survey of Mining Companies carried out by the Fraser Institute, which was released on December 18, 2001, Québec and Ontario tied for first place worldwide. Québec obtained the highest score, 90 points out of 100, among the forty-five jurisdictions surveyed.

Investment attractiveness for mineral exploration investment, as assessed by the 2001/2002 Fraser Institute survey, combines mineral potential (60% of overall attractiveness) and government policy (40%). Québec ranked first for mineral potential, with a maximum score (100 points out of 100), and sixth (76 points out of 100) for government policies.

This 1^st place for overall attractiveness in 2001 is the best result achieved by Québec since the initial survey by the Fraser Institute in 1997. Québec ranked ninth worldwide in 2000, second in 1999 and sixth in 1998. Québec has always finished among the top three mining jurisdictions in Canada, and came first in 1999.

The companies that took part in the 2001/2002 Fraser Institute survey had worldwide exploration budgets of US$782 million in 2000, roughly 60% in North America. This amount represents approximately 30% of worldwide exploration budgets in 2000 (US$2.6 billion).

More information and the complete text of the 2001/2002 Fraser Institute survey report can be obtained at www.fraserinstitute.ca