Ghana ranked as the 43^rd most attractive jurisdiction in the world for mining investment while its peer, South Africa, ranked 75^th in the world, according to the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian policy think-tank.

Ghana’s new ranking sets the country 12 positions away from the 2020 ranking (31st), while that of South Africa places it 15 positions away from its previous ranking in 2020 (60th). Thus, this reflects a poor performance in the rankings of both countries compared to 2020.

The report, which ranked 84 jurisdictions around the world based on their geologic attractiveness, and government policies that encourage or deter exploration and investment adjudged Western Australia (1st), Saskatchewan (2nd) and Nevada (3rd) as the three most attractive jurisdictions in the world for mining investment.

“The Fraser Institute’s mining survey is the most comprehensive report on government policies that either attract or discourage mining investors, and Western Australia ranks highest of anywhere in the world,” said Elmira Aliakbari, Director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Natural Resource Studies and co-author of the report.

Least Attractive Mining Jurisdictions in Ranking

Meanwhile, countries in Africa that ranked high on the global chart, falling among the first ten countries was only Morocco, which came at the 8^th position. At the bottom of the chart, four African countries featured as the least attractive jurisdictions for mining investment: South Africa (75th), Mali (81st), Democratic Republic of Congo (82nd) and Zimbabwe (84).

“A sound regulatory regime coupled with competitive taxes make a jurisdiction attractive to investors,” said Jairo Yunis, Fraser Institute policy analyst and report co-author.

Also, regions with the most countries featuring in the top 10 of the 2021 report are: the United States (4), followed by Canada (3), Australia (2) and Africa (1).

“The median score for Africa on the Investment Attractiveness Index showed a decrease of almost 9 points this year. With a median score of 51.87, Africa is the second least attractive region for mining investment when accounting for both mineral potential and policy according to miners.”
Fraser Institute

On the basis of policy, two countries ranked in the bottom 10 of the survey rankings— Zimbabwe (79th) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (78th). Compared to 2020 scores, the report highlights that “all African jurisdictions, with the exception of Namibia, Tanzania, and Mauritania saw declines in their policy scores.”

According to the report, Morocco, which was the highest ranked on the continent, “performs particularly well in the areas of the administration, interpretation, or enforcement of existing regulations, environmental regulations, regulatory duplication and inconsistencies…”

In Africa, Ghana (43^rd globally) came second after Morocco (8^th globally), followed by Guinea (Conakry) which took the 45^th position globally and Senegal which took the 46^th position globally.

For Zimbabwe, which came last in the rankings, the report notes that areas of major concern that discouraged investments, and flagged by respondents included: “the uncertainty regarding the administration, interpretation, or enforcement of existing regulations, the country’s legal system, its taxation regime, its infrastructure, trade barriers, its political stability, and security…” according to the report.