Yukon slips as attractive place to mine in Fraser Institute survey

The Fraser Institute says the Yukon continues to slip in its annual survey of mining executives but the territory managed to squeak into the report's top 10 jurisdictions for investment attractiveness.

The annual survey measures the industry's perceptions of countries and regions around the world.

"What the survey captures are things that increase confidence in the regulatory regime," said Kenneth Green, Senior Director of Energy and Natural Resources with the Fraser Institute.

"High level of confidence in the stability of the tax regime, stability of the royalty regime, the solidity of land rights or leases."

Yukon ranks number one for mineral potential, but has dropped to 26th spot in perceptions about government management.

"When uncertainty over regulations, uncertainty over land claims, uncertainty over royalty regimes, uncertainty over areas that will be designated for parks for example," said Green.

"When any of those things increase, those uncertainties increase, some mining companies will be deterred from investing."

Yukon slipped one place since last year to rankninthfor investment attractiveness. Northwest Territories jumped to 15th place from 25th place last year. Nunavut dropped to 29thplace from 27th place last year.

Meanwhile, the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia takes issue with the Fraser Institute survey and says the rankings and actual mining activity are not in sync. Nunavut, for instance,had the highest exploration spending in the North last year, but was given the lowest ranking in the survey.