EXPLORATION: Global budget drops 25% in 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – A report prepared for SNL Metals & Mining estimates the worldwide total budget for non-ferrous metals exploration fell to US$11.36 billion in 2014 from US$15.19 billion in 2013 – a drop of 25%.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – A report prepared for SNL Metals & Mining estimates the worldwide total budget for non-ferrous metals exploration fell to US$11.36 billion in 2014 from US$15.19 billion in 2013 – a drop of 25%.

Exploration allocations for all targets except platinum group metals decreased in 2014. Although gold remains the most attractive target, gold budgets declined for the second consecutive year – dropping 31% to US$4.57 billion – to account for the metal's lowest share of worldwide exploration budgets since 2009 at just 43%. Despite base metals budgets falling by US$1 billion, their collective share of total budgets increased 2% to reach the highest level since 2008. Base metals and gold allocations have a consistently inverse relationship in terms of their shares of overall budgets.

SNL found that juniors companies' total exploration budget fell 29% year over year in 2014 after falling 39% in 2013, dropping their share of the overall budget total to 32% from a high of 55% in 2007. The majors, rather than spend on exploration, are focusing on their bottom lines and divesting non-core assets.

The report was based on data and analysis from about 3,500 mining and exploration companies around the globe. Almost 2,000 companies, each of which had exploration budgets of at least US$100,000, reported spending a total of US$10.74 billion. SNL staff estimated another US$620 million for companies that did not report their plans.

Read more of the report by clicking here.

Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Apr 08 2024 - Apr 09 2024
Apr 15 2024 - Apr 16 2024
Apr 16 2024 - Apr 16 2024
Apr 17 2024 - Apr 18 2024