Exploration, investment climate, and discoveries in Québec:
2003 – an excellent year

Sylvain Lacroix
Direction de la politique et de l’économie minérales

2003 was particularly interesting for mineral exploration in Québec. Here are the highlights:

• Significant increase in exploration and deposit appraisal expenditures
  • These expenditures reached 149 million dollars in 2003, an increase of $37.4 million (34%), from $111.2 million in 2002. They rose for a third consecutive year, from the $94.1 million recorded in 2000.
  • The rise in Québec was greater than that observed for worldwide exploration budgets (up US$500 million; 26%), which reached a total of US$2,400 million. Québec therefore increased its share of worldwide exploration budgets to 4.4% in 2003.
  • Gold and nickel were among the most sought after commodities, while expenditures for diamond exploration continued to rise, reaching more than $16 million in 2003.
• Québec ranked 1^st in Canada and 4^th worldwide for its investment attractiveness, according to the Fraser Institute
  • According to the Fraser Institute 2003-2004 annual survey of 159 mining companies, Québec was only outranked by Chile, Nevada, and Western Australia, and was rated 4^th out of the fifty-three most important mining jurisdictions in the world.
  • For the third consecutive year, Québec was therefore in the top five mining jurisdictions worldwide (1^st worldwide in 2001-2002, 2^nd worldwide in 2002-2003).

For more information as well as the Fraser Institute complete Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2003-2004

• Québec ranked 1^st in Canada for the number of recent exploration discoveries financed by flow-through shares
  • According to a brief presented by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in 2003, Québec has had more flow-through financed mineral discoveries since 2000 than any other jurisdiction in Canada.
  • Seventeen discoveries were made in Québec, including six metal discoveries with the potential to eventually go into production.