Western Australia is now the number-one address for mining investments, according to the latest Fraser Institute’s Survey of Mining Companies. Western Australia has moved up from fourth place and has dethroned the US state of Nevada, which last year topped the rankings.

The results of the latest survey, announced on Tuesday, ranked Saskatchewan as the second-most attractive mining jurisdiction (up from third last year), and Nevada as the third-best destination, based on the Investment Attractiveness Index. 

Rounding out the top ten are Alaska, Arizona, Quebec, Idaho, Morocco, Yukon and South Australia. The US has the most jurisdictions in this year’s top ten, followed by Canada, Australia, and Africa.

The least-attractive jurisdiction for investment attractiveness is Zimbabwe, followed by Spain, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Mali. Also, in the bottom ten (beginning with the worst) are Nicaragua, China, Panama, Mendoza, Venezuela, and South Africa.

Latin America (including Argentina and the Caribbean) and Africa are the regions with the greatest number of jurisdictions in the bottom ten of the Investment Attractiveness Index.

This year’s report ranks 84 jurisdictions, based on their geological attractiveness and government policies that encourage or deter exploration and investment. Last year, 77 jurisdictions were evaluated.

An overall Investment Attractiveness Index is constructed by combining the Best Practices Mineral Potential index, which rates regions based on their geologic attractiveness, and the Policy Perception Index (PPI), a composite index that measures the effects of government policy on attitudes toward exploration investment.

In terms of policy perception, which is seen as a report card to governments on the attractiveness of their mining policies, Ireland displaced Idaho, which dropped out of the top ten this year. Ireland has a PPI score of 100, followed by Morocco, which took the position from Wyoming, with a PPI of 98.06.

The other top-ten ranked jurisdictions for policy perception are Northern Ireland, Western Australia, Quebec, Nevada, Utah, Saskatchewan, Finland and Alberta. The ten least-attractive jurisdictions based on PPI rankings are Venezuela, Philippines, Argentina: Chubut, Nicaragua, Argentina: Mendoza, Zimbabwe, DRC, Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.

“A sound regulatory regime, coupled with competitive taxes make a jurisdiction attractive to investors,” said Fraser Institute policy analyst and report co-author Jairo Yunis.