Nevada tops Fraser survey: policy and permitting lessons for mine project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Nevada has overtaken Finland as the world’s top mining investment jurisdiction in the Fraser Institute’s 2025 Annual Survey of Mining Companies, with the highest policy perception index score driven by stable permitting, taxation and regulatory clarity for gold, silver and critical minerals. Ontario jumped from 15th to the global top three after October rule changes aimed at cutting mine approval times by half, while Saskatchewan rose from 7th on the strength of its uranium and potash districts. China, Burkina Faso and Egypt sit at the bottom of the 68‑jurisdiction Investment Attractiveness Index, with executives reporting that policy factors drive about 40% of investment decisions.
Technical Brief
- Fraser’s 2025 survey is based on 256 respondents from exploration, production and consulting operations.
- Questionnaires were sent to 2,304 senior executives between 5 August and 26 November, giving an 11% response rate.
- Nevada’s top ranking is linked to consistently high policy perception scores over the last 11 surveys.
- Saudi Arabia climbed into the Top 10, moving from 20th position in the 2024 ranking.
- Finland, Alaska, Wyoming, Newfoundland & Labrador and Guyana all dropped out of the 2025 Top 10 cohort.
- Yukon and Manitoba rank 11th and 13th for geology but fall to 47th and 39th on policy-only scores.
- For project pipeline planning, the survey reinforces that regulatory predictability can outweigh raw mineral potential in capital allocation.
Our Take
Nevada’s long-running top-10 consistency in the Fraser survey aligns with our database, where it is one of the most frequently cited US jurisdictions for new gold and copper project studies, signalling that permitting and regulatory predictability there are still viewed as bankable advantages.
The sharp divergence between Yukon's and Manitoba's strong mineral potential rankings and their much weaker policy scores is consistent with other Canada-focused pieces in our coverage, where early-stage gold, copper and critical minerals explorers increasingly flag consultation timelines and regulatory uncertainty as key schedule risks rather than geology.
For coal and broader critical minerals, the rise of Saudi Arabia and other non-traditional mining jurisdictions in this survey echoes several recent items in our database where operators weigh greenfield options in the Middle East and Africa against brownfield expansions in mature regions like Western Australia and Ontario to balance permitting risk and capital intensity.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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