The latest Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies has found that various African countries, including Niger, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Senegal, have ranked among the lowest for investment attractiveness for mining exploration.

Africa is unfortunately ranked as the region with the most jurisdictions towards the bottom of the overall Investment Attractiveness Index.

The survey garnered input from 293 respondents globally between August last year and January this year, to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors, such as taxation and regulatory uncertainty, affect exploration investment.

The results of the survey are categorised according to the Best Practices Mineral Potential Index, based on the geological attractiveness of a region, and the Policy Perception Index, that measures the effects of government policy and attitude towards exploration investment.

Together, the indices comprise the overall Investment Attractiveness Index, with the minerals potential side comprising 60% and policy perception the balance.

Fifty-nine per cent of respondents in the latest survey are either the company president or VP, and 23% are either managers or senior managers. The companies that participated in the survey reported exploration spending of $4.1-billion in 2023.

The best-ranked countries in Africa (according to the Investment Attractiveness Index) were Botswana with a score of 76.87, down from 82.75 last year, ranking fifteenth out of 86 jurisdictions; Morocco with a score of 69.61, down from 74.13 last year and ranking twenty-seventh; and Zambia with a score of 64.23, up from 41.18 last year and ranking thirty-fourth.

Notably, Botswana had ranked tenth out of 62 jurisdictions last year.

South Africa’s score of 41.84 further decreased from 44.76 last year and fell to a ranking of sixty-second out of 86 jurisdictions, while Namibia’s score decreased from 59.88 last year to 56.43 this year, ranking forty-second.

Other African countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania also scored lower in this year’s survey, with Mozambique having a score of 31.90 this year compared with 34.96 last year and ranking eighty-second out of 86 jurisdictions.

Zimbabwe’s score fell from 34.29 last year to 33.43 this year, ranking it eighty-first; while the DRC’s score decreased from 48.52 last year to 42.97 this year and ranking sixty-first; and Tanzania’s score went from 52.90 last year to 46.38 this year ranking it fifty-third.

Angola’s score improved from 37.14 last year to 52.54 this year, ranking it forty-seventh out of 68 jurisdictions.

Burkina Faso’s score fell notably from 64.61 last year to 38.95 this year, now ranking it sixty-fifth out of 86 jurisdictions, while Mali’s score also decreased from 57.42 last year to 38.04 this year, ranking it seventieth.

Niger ranks as the least favourable jurisdiction for exploration investment, scoring 14.1 on the Investment Attractiveness Index and ranking eighty-sixth. 

According to the Policy Perception Index, Botswana still measures favourably with a score of 92.17, albeit down from 97.79 last year. Morocco also has a decent score in this regard at 86.53, up from 80.32 last year.

South Africa managed to record an improvement from 29.65 last year to 40.59 this year.

In terms of the Best Practices Mineral Potential Index, Zambia scored the highest at 68.75, compared with 43.75 last year, followed by Botswana with a score of 66.67, down from 72.73 last year.

South Africa’s score in this regard decreased from 54.84 last year to 42.68 this year.

Niger scored very low at 15.09 for policy perception and 14.29 for mineral potential.

As a region, Africa’s median score on investment attractiveness decreased by nine points in the latest survey to 44.88.

Fraser Institute says investors were increasingly concerned about uncertainty over environmental regulations, protected areas and labour regulations in Africa.

The US, Australia and Canada remain the most attractive regions for exploration investment, in that order, globally.