Stripe teams up with major tech companies to commit $925 million toward carbon capture

Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify and McKinsey are trying to spur the market for carbon capture.

They're launching Frontier, which plans to purchase $925 million worth of permanent carbon removal from companies that are developing the technology over the next nine years.

The Frontier initiative suggests momentum is starting to build in carbon capture.


© Provided by CNBC

Pods, operated by Carbfix, containing technology for storing carbon dioxide underground, in Hellisheidi, Iceland, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021. Startups Climeworks AG and Carbfix are working together to store carbon dioxide removed from the air deep underground to reverse some of the damage CO2 emissions are doing to the planet. Photographer: Arnaldur Halldorsson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Catherine Clifford - CNBC

Online payments-technology provider Stripe is teaming up with several other companies, including Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta, to commit nearly $1 billion in spurring the carbon-capture market.

On Tuesday the companies announced the creation of Frontier, which plans to purchase $925 million worth of permanent carbon removal from companies that are developing the technology over the next nine years.

Frontier will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Stripe. Alphabet, Meta, e-commerce platform Shopify and consulting giant McKinsey are chipping in — and committing to purchase some of the carbon-capture solutions.

Stripe will also provide customers to Frontier through its Stripe Climate program, which allows online sellers using the company's platform to devote a portion of sales to carbon removal.

The goal of the investment is to turbocharge the nascent industry.

The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that to limit global warning to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, an average of 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide will have to be removed each year from the atmosphere by 2050. Fewer than 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide have been captured to date.

The Frontier initiative suggests momentum is starting to build in the space.

"Sentiment is changing about both carbon capture and carbon dioxide removal," said Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct, which invests in and advises companies on cFarbon-removal solutions.

"This is changing in part because we are not succeeding on climate at the speed and scale required," Friedmann said. "In short: We're failing and we need a bigger boat — one that includes all serious options for mitigation."

The IPCC's Sixth Assessment report, released April 4, specifically mentioned the importance of carbon capture, saying it is "necessary to achieve net zero CO2 and GHG emissions both globally and nationally, counterbalancing 'hard-to-abate' residual emissions," the report said.

The Frontier development is among other company and government initiatives that are sinking billions into the technology.

For example, the Swiss carbon sequestration company Climeworks raised a $650 million equity round of funding on April 5. And in the U.S., the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill included $3.5 billion in direct investment by the federal government in carbon-capture technologies, while both the U.K. and European Union have committed to capture 5 million tons per year of carbon dioxide.
Funding to get the flywheel turning

The advanced market commitment funding model was used to develop pneumococcal vaccines for low-income countries in 2009. A group of funders collaborated with Gavi, UNICEF and the World Bank to devote $1.5 billion in purchases to spur the development of the vaccines. That AMC helped vaccinate millions of children.

But this is the first time the model has been used to fund carbon-removal technologies at scale.

Frontier's job will be to collect financial commitments from companies and governments that want to purchase carbon-capture solutions to make good on their net-zero pledges, vet the suppliers of those solutions and then pay the suppliers once the solutions are delivered.

The group plans to announce more details about where it will spend the money later this year. Companies will be selected if their technologies can store carbon for more than 1,000 years, have a path to being affordable at scale — defined as less than $100 per ton by 2040 — and have a path to remove more than half a gigaton of carbon by 2040, among other factors.

The Frontier news was cheered by Facebook's former chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, who recently announced he will devote his time to fighting climate change.

"This is huge and I'm super proud Meta is a launch partner," Schroepfer said on Twitter. "Even the most conservative climate models say we need to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to avert the worst of the climate crisis. Many cool technologies exist but they don't have a market for their product."

Not everyone, however, sees the focus on carbon-removal technologies as a good thing.

"Honestly, I really wish these same companies were investing the same amount of money in clean energy solutions," Michael E. Mann, a professor of atmospheric science at Penn State, told CNBC. "As I discuss in 'The New Climate War,' there is no evidence that carbon removal can be implemented at the scale necessary to make a dent in global carbon emissions on the time frame necessary," said Mann, who is also the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center (ESSC).

Globally, carbon emissions need to be reduced by 50% this decade, Mann said.

Carbon capture "could play a role later down the road, but for the time being what is needed is a rapid and dramatic transition away from fossil fuel burning toward renewable energy," he said.

"The current Russian invasion of Ukraine, enabled by reliance of Europe on their gas and oil, is a reminder of the continued dangers of our dependence on fossil fuels," Mann told CNBC. "What we need is to solve this problem at its source, not apply Band-Aids at the edges."

THE REALITY IS THAT CCS IS NOT GREEN NOR CLEAN IT IS GOING TO BE USED TO FRACK OLD DRY WELLS SUCH AS IN THE BAKAN SHIELD IN SASKATCHEWAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-myth-of-carbon-capture-and-storage.html

ALSO SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CCS

Opinion: US uses Cold War powers to secure battery metals supply

Reuters | April 11, 2022 | 

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)


US President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate the build-out of a domestic battery materials supply chain.

A measure first used by President Truman to boost US steel production in the Korean War will now be tailored to future energy transition metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

The White House’s March 31 announcement was light on details, specifically the amount of government funding available, and the initial impact is likely to be incremental rather than revolutionary.

Investment in greenfield capacity will be dependent on a planned overhaul of the country’s gold rush-era mining laws, the underlying cause of much of the environmental resistance to new mines.

But it’s still a clear statement of intent and one that reinforces industrial metals’ growing strategic importance in a fast-changing world.
Back to the future

“Our national security and our chances for peace depend on our defense production, (and) our defense production depends on steel,” President Truman told the American people in a radio address in 1952 at the height of the Korean War.

Metals such as steel and aluminum were critical to the war effort, and the Defense Production Act was passed in 1950 to allow the government to stimulate production.

The rise of the oil economy in the second half of the century shifted the strategic focus to energy security, but as energy transitions from fossil fuels to renewables, enabling metals are now back on governments’ priority lists.

“To promote the national defense, the United States must secure a reliable and sustainable supply of such strategic and critical materials,” said President Biden, citing specifically lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite.

All are used in batteries, and the United States relies on imports for all of them, often from what Biden termed “unreliable foreign sources”.

Demand for these minerals is set to increase exponentially in the coming years as automakers increase electric vehicle production and build out the required battery capacity.

“Unreliable foreign sources” is usually diplomatic code for China when it comes to strategic metals.

There is obvious concern about China’s dominant position in lithium processing and in the supply of graphite. The United States is totally import dependent for the latter, with around one third of annual imports coming from China.
New urgency

However, Russian metals supply has taken on a new urgency since the invasion of Ukraine.

The United States has limited direct exposure to the potential loss of Russian lithium, manganese or cobalt.


Nickel, however, is much more problematic. Battery production requires high-grade – so-called “Class I” – nickel, and Russia’s Norilsk Nickel accounts for around 17% of global supply, according to Fitch Ratings.

Neither Norilsk nor its oligarch owner Vladimir Potanin have yet been sanctioned, but self-sanctioning is making it ever harder to finance, insure and ship metal from the company’s Arctic base.

Russian metal has suddenly become high-risk supply after the country’s self-styled “special military operation” in Ukraine, tightening an already stretched market. It’s one of the reasons the nickel price turned so wild in March the London Metal Exchange had to suspend its contract.

Western critical metal supply chains were already starting to change in response to the strategic need to loosen dependence on Chinese supply.

Ukraine both opens up new potential mineral hostilities and underlines the need for greater self-sufficiency.

Federal accelerator

The Defense Production Act is intended as a federal government accelerator for a domestic battery metals supply chain that is still in its infancy.

Without presidential action, the United States “cannot reasonably be expected to provide the capability for these needed industrial resources, materials, or critical technology items in a timely manner,” Biden warned.

The initial focus will be on enhancing and expanding existing capacity through funding feasibility studies for by-product and co-product production, mine waste reclamation and value-added modernisation.

New projects will be given a helping hand, both in terms of capital expenditure and winning public acceptance.

Green environmental push-back against green transition metals remains a road-block on the path to a clean energy future, and the Biden Administration is keen to underline that domestic supply must come from “environmentally responsible domestic mining and processing”.

Key to this balancing act will be the planned rewrite of the 1872 General Mining Law, a legal framework that is wholly unfit for 21st century purpose, generating protracted court action and seemingly random outcomes for proposed new mines.

That particular battle lies ahead, which is why it makes sense to channel initial DPA funding into maximising what has already been built. Or, in the case of historic tailings, what has already been built and abandoned.

Critical metals

The real significance of invoking the DPA, however, is that it elevates battery metals to the top of the US critical materials supply list.

Until now the Biden Administration has only used the Act to secure vaccines and enhance testing in its battle to control the covid-19 pandemic.

Securing domestic or “friendly” supplies of lithium and nickel is now in the same top-priority category.

The Administration has already committed up to $3 billion to increase battery metals production thanks to last year’s infrastructure bill.

That was passed with bi-partisan support, and minerals security is one of the few areas of political agreement between Democrats and Republicans, which may open the door on further money being allocated to the sector.

Expect domestic investment to go hand in hand with mineral alliances, particularly with the European Union, Australia and Canada, which itself is preparing a major C$2 billion ($1.6 billion) investment drive into the battery supply chain.

Industrial metals moved out of the geopolitical limelight after the 1970s, when successive oil shocks rocked the global economy.

President Biden’s lithium echo of Truman’s steel warning tells you they’re rapidly returning to centre stage.

(Editing by Jan Harvey)

Glencore investors urged by Glass Lewis to reject climate plan

Bloomberg News | April 12, 2022 

Newlands coal mine, Queensland, Australia. (Image courtesy of Glencore.)

Glencore Plc shareholders have been urged to vote down the commodity trader’s climate progress report at an investor meeting later this month by an influential proxy advisory firm.


Glass Lewis & Co. said that the lack of board oversight for the company’s climate program and insufficient clarity on how Glencore may interpret support for its strategy-setting process meant investors should vote against the motion, the shareholder adviser said in a report seen by Bloomberg News.

As investors become ever more focused on climate, Glencore has laid a different strategy to many of its rivals. While its major peers have looked to quit mining thermal coal, the most polluting fuel, Glencore has instead sought to position itself as a responsible custodian to run its mines to closure by 2050, becoming carbon neutral in the process.

Glencore’s position received overwhelming shareholder support at last year’s investor meeting, with 94% voting in favor.

In a letter responding to Glass Lewis, seen by Bloomberg News, Glencore said it was at the forefront of climate shareholder engagement and reporting in the mining sector and asked the advisory firm to revisit its assessment.

“The board maintains the ultimate oversight of the strategy, as clearly expressed in our AGM Notice,” the company said in the letter. “Our reporting reflects the central importance of climate to our board. The directors receive reports, discuss and make decisions on climate matters at each set of our board and committee meetings.”

Glass Lewis didn’t respond to a call seeking comment.

Still, Glass Lewis said it was unclear how much board oversight there was for Glencore’s climate reporting.

“We believe that effective governance and board-level oversight of climate are arguably the most critical aspects of a company’s management of climate-related issues,” Glass Lewis said. “Given that there is no disclosure to this effect, we do not believe that support for this resolution is warranted.”

Glass Lewis follows the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility in saying Glencore’s climate progress report should be voted down.

Last month the ACCR said it opposed the resolution for reasons including continued coal expansion in Australia and Glencore’s coal emission targets not being consistent with the reduction needed to avert the worst impact of climate change.

(By Thomas Biesheuvel)

South African unions start wage talks with platinum miners

Bloomberg News | April 12, 2022 |

Dishaba platinum mine in Limpopo province, South Africa. (Image courtesy of Anglo American Platinum.)

South African labor unions have started wage negotiations with the country’s largest platinum miners as workers press for a share of the record profits generated by rallying metal prices.


Negotiations started with Anglo American Platinum Ltd. last week and more talks are planned tomorrow, William Mabapa, general-secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, said by phone. Amplats, a unit of Anglo American Plc, has extended its offer beyond the usual three-year period to five years, with annual increases in basic pay of 7%, according to Mabapa.


Amplats also offered to backdate the new wages from April 1, if the unions agree to sign the deal this month, he said. Mabapa declined to disclose what the union is asking for. Amplats didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions.

The NUM is holding the talks jointly with the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, after presenting their wage demands to Amplats, Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. While the South African miners announced record dividends after a rally in the price of palladium and rhodium, they have warned that wage settlements with about 163,000 workers must not risk the long-term viability of a key export industry.

The offer from Amplats, including other benefits, could result in the lowest-paid employee earning about 30,000 rand a month ($2,066) in the fifth year compared with the current 20,875 rand.

Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted said the miner had received notice of wage demands from AMCU and said talks will start toward the middle of the year. Implats will also be engaging with the unions, said spokesman Johan Theron.

A strike that’s been underway for more than a month at Sibanye’s gold mines could be escalated to the company’s platinum operations, the unions said Tuesday.

(By Felix Njini)

Airbus defends Russian titanium use, urges against sanctions

Bloomberg News | April 12, 2022 | 

Credit: Pixabay

Airbus SE defended its decision to keep importing Russian titanium, contending sanctions would hurt aerospace manufacturers who depend on the lightweight metal and wouldn’t deter Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine.


The European planemaker has been stockpiling titanium for many years, Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said at the company’s annual general meeting Tuesday. That’s given Airbus some breathing room in the short and medium term, even if an embargo does take effect.


“We don’t think sanctions on imports will be appropriate,” Faury said. “This will be a small impact on Russia, and would have large consequences on the rest of the countries and the industry. So we think the no-sanction policy actually is the most meaningful one.”

Airbus, a major customer of Russia’s VSMPO-AVISMA Corp., has so far been able to keep importing the material, which hasn’t been directly targeted by a growing list of European Union sanctions aimed at punishing President Putin. U.S. rival Boeing Co. has halted Russian purchases.

Russia provides about half of Airbus’s titanium needs, directly or through key suppliers. The company has been stockpiling the metal since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam said.

The Toulouse, France-based planemaker is working to bridge the gap in long-term supply by seeking out secondary sources, Faury said.

Titanium is prized in aerospace for its strength, low mass and corrosion resistance, making it ideal for components such as landing gear. It’s also used to attach the carbon-fiber outer shell of the A350 widebody because it doesn’t flex as much as other metals with temperature changes.

(By Charlotte Ryan)

South Africa sets $900 million annual mineral exploration target

Bloomberg News | April 12, 2022

Photo: Minerals Council South Africa

South Africa, home to the world’s biggest deposits of a number of minerals, has set an annual target of attracting $900 million of mining exploration expenditure annually by 2025.


The target, equivalent to 5% of the annual spend on exploration globally, is expected to kick start a mining industry, that while among the world’s biggest, has stagnated in recent years.

The exploration strategy made public Tuesday by the Department of Minerals and Energy, aims to take advantage of South Africa’s comparatively advanced infrastructure and mining expertise. It also plans to shrug off the country’s historical dependence on gold to focus instead on metals used in electric vehicles, battery storage and the production of hydrogen.

“With the declining gold resources, the appeal of the South African mining industry lies in the minerals of the future,” the department said in the document.

Gold dominance

While South Africa was the world’s biggest producer of gold for decades, production has slumped as its deposits get deeper and more expensive to access.

Still, the country has the world’s biggest deposits of platinum group metals, battery metal vanadium, chrome and manganese.

Challenges include poor policy implementation, poor geoscientific data, insufficient electricity generation, frequent strikes and community unrest, according to the document.

Among initiatives to boost exploration, the country aims to improve the data on its mineral deposits and give more technical support to small mining companies.

While the Department of Minerals and Energy didn’t say how much exploration is currently carried out in the country, News24, a South African news site, said it accounted for less than 1% of the annual expenditure on searching for minerals.

While the document was made public Tuesday, it’s dated August 2021.

Glencore Plc, Anglo American Plc and Rio Tinto Group operate in South Africa.

(By Antony Sguazzin)

Nickel drama spurs Chicago exchange bid to grab trading From LME

Bloomberg News | April 11, 2022 

Credit: CME Group

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, trying to capitalize on the London Metal Exchange’s nickel-trading crisis, is offering incentives to traders to boost its less-popular aluminum futures contract, according to people familiar with the matter.


Representatives of the Chicago exchange have approached major physical and financial players in the aluminum market in recent weeks, offering them credits, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The CME is expanding the reach of an existing program, which is mostly limited to brokers, to other market participants like traders and banks, according to one of the people.

The Chicago exchange’s push comes about a month after an unprecedented squeeze in the nickel market sent the metal soaring by 250% in just two days, prompting the LME to halt trading and ultimately cancel trades. While the chaos was limited to the nickel market, it prompted base metals traders to question the LME’s ability to handle potential crisis situations in the higher volume markets of aluminum and copper.

“The crisis that surrounds the LME right now represents a golden opportunity for the CME,” said Jorge Vazquez, managing director at Harbor Intelligence, in a phone interview.

A spokeswoman for the LME declined to comment.

The CME’s existing incentive program began Feb. 1 and is scheduled to expire July 31.

Under that program, the CME offers a $125 credit per side to members and nonmembers on each side of an aluminum trade cleared through its Clearport system, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. It offers a $125 credit to members and a $75 credit to nonmembers via its Globex system. Credits are capped at $30,000 per month per participant.

Still small

It’s not the first time CME has tried to gain a foothold in the LME’s territory.

In 2014, buyers had to pay a significant premium to ship aluminum to the U.S. Midwest when banks and trading houses joined in so-called “merry-go-round deals” at LME warehouses to collect higher rents. Burned by bottlenecks, traders in 2016 turned to aluminum premium hedging contracts that the CME launched to help purchasers of the physical metal hedge against fluctuations in the cost to deliver it.

But even if the CME is able to make inroads after the nickel crisis, its much smaller aluminum contract is still unlikely to challenge the LME as the global exchange of choice for the metal any time soon. The CME’s intention is to build open interest in the May and June futures above 1,000 contracts to entice other players like funds that need a certain minimum liquidity to participate, according to one of the people.

The CME’s aluminum futures contract has been around for years and seen little pickup by physical players like trading houses, producers and end-users like beverage and packaging companies.

Aggregate open interest for London was at nearly 600,000 contracts, or 15 million tons, as of last week’s close. That compares with about 300 contracts, or 7,500 tons, of open interest on the CME. However, the market traded more than 9,000 contracts on the CME during the week that ended April 8, the most since August.

(By Joe Deaux, Jack Farchy and Archie Hunter, with assistance from Mark Burton)

Novo sells New Found Gold stake to Sprott for $100 million

Staff Writer | April 12, 2022 

Gander River, Newfoundland (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Western Australia-focused gold producer Novo Resources (TSX: NVO) has agreed to sell its entire stake in New Found Gold, consisting of 15 million shares or about 9% of NFG’s share capital, to a corporation controlled by Canadian mining investor Eric Sprott.


Pursuant to arm’s-length negotiations, Novo will receive total consideration of C$125.9 million (about $100m), representing a 9.3% premium to NFG’s stock price of C$7.68 as of market close on April 11, 2022.

The share sale will be conducted in two tranches. The first tranche will consist of 8.25 million NFG shares priced at C$8.35 for gross proceeds of C$68.9 million, and is scheduled for completion on April 27. The second tranche totals 6.75 million NFG shares priced at C$8.45 for gross proceeds of C$57 million, and is scheduled to settle on August 5.

Proceeds of the NFG share sale will be used by Novo to advance its exploration efforts across the Pilbara and Victoria, and to expedite a feasibility study on the Fresh component of its Beatons Creek project in Nullagine, Western Australia.

“Novo has always considered its sizeable investment portfolio as a means to fund growth expenditure,” Mike Spreadborough, executive co-chairman of Novo, said in a news release.

“The sale of our New Found holding at a premium of 9.3% to the closing price of C$7.68 is an excellent result and allows Novo to deleverage our balance sheet, continue to focus on optimizing operations at Beatons Creek, and aggressively accelerate growth and expansion plans across Western Australia and Victoria.”

The transaction will also free Novo of its debt with Sprott Private Resource Lending II, allowing it to repay its C$50.5 million ($40m) senior secured credit facility with Sprott upon completion.

For Sprott, his shareholding in NFG will expand to 51.6 million common shares, or 31.4% of the its outstanding shares, once the transaction is completed.

NFG’s flagship asset is the 100%-owned Queensway project located 15 kilometres west of Gander, Newfoundland, where it is currently conducting a 400,000-metre drilling campaign.

American, UK companies join forces to develop largest uranium prospect in Argentina

Staff Writer | April 12, 2022

Central Plateau Project area. (Image courtesy of UrAmerica).

Evolution Metals announced this week that it has acquired a significant position in UrAmerica, the owner of the largest prospective uranium deposit in Argentina.


UrAmerica controls 59 exploration permits and mining concessions, either wholly-owned or through JV agreements, covering over 221,000 hectares across the central plateau of Argentina’s province of Chubut. These assets include the Central Plateau Project (CPP), which encompasses 145,000 hectares and is the largest and highest grade sedimentary hosted uranium deposit in Argentina.

In a press release, Evolution and UrAmerica said that in-situ resources, including lithium and heavy rare earth elements, have been identified within multiple sites, including the CPP. The companies believe that such resources may be commercially viable and complement uranium operations.

“This is one major step in Evolution’s vertical integration plan for critical metals production,” David Wilcox, Evolution Metals’ chief executive officer, said in the media brief.

“America is mineral insecure and we are doing our part to change that reality. Industry leaders, including Elon Musk, have publicly remarked on the importance of this issue. Evolution and UrAmerica are positioned to have a positive impact on energy transformation materials’ dependencies.”

Wilcox pointed out that the recent transaction represents the first known American investment in Argentina’s nuclear power sector, which has traditionally been dominated by Russia and China.

“The announcement comes only months after a renewed commitment between the government of Argentina and Chinese state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation for the development of the Atucha 3 nuclear power plant in Lima, Argentina,” the release reads.

Western Australia is world’s new top mining destination

Cecilia Jamasmie | April 11, 2022 

Western Australia has some of the world’s largest iron ore mines and it also hosts gold and lithium assets. (Stock image of the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie.)

Resource-rich Western Australia has been picked the most attractive region for mining investment in 2021, replacing the US state of Nevada, which fell to the third place in the latest annual survey of mining companies released by think-tank the Fraser Institute.


Canada’s Saskatchewan is still on the podium, climbing from a third place overall in 2020 to a second position in the 2021 index, which takes both mineral and policy perception into consideration.

Nevada, which topped the 2020 ranking, ranked third last year, followed by Alaska, Arizona, Quebec, Idaho, Morocco, Yukon, and South Australia.

The US was the country with the most jurisdictions considered among the world’s 10 most attractive by mining investors — Nevada, Alaska, Arizona and Idaho. Canada followed closely with three provinces at the top of the index — Saskatchewan, Quebec and the Yukon. Australia only had two states among the best ten destinations — Western Australia and Southern Australia.

Source: Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2021.

As in previous years, the best places to invest in mining are located in developed countries with long histories of success in the industry, which not necessarily is a good thing.

The main issue is that the number of available projects in the top jurisdictions are limited, while some of the world’s best deposits are in places where doing business is, or is perceived as, risky.

Zimbabwe, which has an abundance of resources including gold, platinum, diamonds, lithium, chrome, and coal, ranked as the least attractive jurisdiction in the world for investment followed by Spain, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mali.

Also in the bottom ten, beginning with the worst, are Nicaragua, China, Panama, Argentina’s Mendoza, Venezuela and South Africa.

Permit times

The survey also included a sub-ranking of exploration jurisdictions, based on the length of their permitting process.

This year’s report went beyond Canada, gathering data from Australia, the US and Scandinavia, all regions where mining, environmental and other policies are broadly comparable.

In most Canadian provinces and territories, the majority respondents said they were able to acquire the necessary exploration permits within six months. There were some notable differences among regions, particularly when comparing Manitoba, where 42% of participants said it took them 24 months or more to obtain all necessary permits, versus British Columbia, where the majority said it took between three and six months.

“Overall, senior mining executives continue to cite the uncertainty around protected areas, disputed land claims, and environmental regulations as major areas of concern for Canadian provinces and territories,” said Elmira Aliakbari, director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Natural Resource Studies and co-author of the study.

“Policymakers in every province and territory should understand that mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract investment,” Aliakbari said.

Quebec performed the best, with 60% of respondents indicated that they received exploration permits in two months or less. When comparing the four regions included in the survey — Canada, the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia — Canadian jurisdictions have, on average, a higher percentage of respondents indicating that it took six months or less for them to receive their permits.