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Ontario maintains top ten ranking

Mining and exploration executives participating in the Fraser Institute's ninth annual Survey of Mining Companies have once again ranked Ontario among the top 10 most favourable mining jurisdictions in the world.

Mining and exploration executives participating in the Fraser Institute's ninth annual Survey of Mining Companies have once again ranked Ontario among the top 10 most favourable mining jurisdictions in the world.

Ontario finished ninth out of 64 jurisdictions in the Institute's composite policy potential index which ranks jurisdictions in relation to government
regulations, taxation, Native land claims, infrastructure, political stability, security and the quality of its geological databases.

Joining Ontario in the top 10 were Mexico, Chile, four other Canadian provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan) and three U.S. states (Nevada, Arizona and Utah).

Among the least favourable jurisdictions were Papua-New Guinea, Congo, Venezuela, the Philippines, Indonesia, Russia, Zambia and Bolivia. Also in the bottom 10 were California in 55th spot and Zimbabwe which trailed the pack.

Ontario also finished ninth in the Institute's Current Mineral Potential Index, which takes into consideration each jurisdiction's current policy environment as well as its perceived mineral potential. Joining Ontario in the top 10 were Chile, Nevada, Mongolia, Quebec, Mali, South Australia, Ghana, Mexico and Western Australia.

Respondents gave Ontario high marks for security, labour relations, political stability, infrastructure and geological databases. Concerns relating to regulations and taxation in Ontario were identified by 9 - 12 per cent of the respondents.

Uncertainties over Native land claims and parkland designation were the only factors negatively impacting on Ontario's score. Nineteen per cent of respondents expressed strong concerns about uncertainty related to Native land claims in the province, while 20 per cent identified uncertainty over parkland designation as a deterrent to exploration.

The survey was based on responses from 322 mining and exploration companies accounting for $1.83 billion of exploration spending in 2005.

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