Exploration budgets for Canada fall less than global average decline

By Christopher Galbraith | 01 February 2017

Exploration budgets allocated to Canada in 2016 totaled US$971 million — US$214 million less than in 2015. This represented a fall of 18%; however, the decline was less than the global average decline of 21%. The 2016 total budget was a 12-year low for the country, down 70% from the 2012 high of US$3.24 billion. There were 400 companies budgeting for exploration in Canada in 2016 — 14% less than the 464 companies with budgets in the previous year.

Goldcorp Inc. had the largest allocation to Canada at US$85 million. Almost half of that was devoted to exploration at and near the company’s producing Musselwhite, Porcupine and Red Lake operations in Ontario. The rest was earmarked for resource-conversion drill programs at Eleonore in Quebec, and for exploration at the 50%-owned Ogden joint venture (Metals Creek Resources 50%) in Ontario and the recently acquired Coffee project in Yukon Territory. Goldcorp’s US$17 million grassroots budget was Canada’s second largest for the development stage, only slightly behind Rio Tinto’s US$18.7 million.

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. was the only other company to budget more than US$50 million for Canada. The US$60 million allocation targeted exploration at its mines and in regional programs in Quebec, Ontario and Nunavut.
top-explorers-in-canada

Exploration allocations were down for all but one target in Canada in 2016. Gold budgets declined 19% to US$487 million, slightly outpacing the global decline of 16% for gold. Base metals were more affected by budget reductions, with copper down 36% year over year to US$67 million, nickel down 42% to US$26 million and zinc down 22% to US$43 million. By comparison, global copper, nickel and zinc budgets were down 28%, 38% and 19% respectively in 2016. Uranium budgets fell another 14% to US$126 million, faring only slightly better than the decline of 15% globally. Budgets for platinum group metals fell another 35% year over year to US$18 million, again slightly better than the 38% decline globally. In the one bright spot, diamond exploration budgets were up 10% in 2016 to US$105 million, in sharp contrast with the 21% global decline in diamond allocations.


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