Ontario is now the most attractive jurisdiction in Canada for mining sector investment, according to a report released on Thursday by a Canadian think tank, and second only to Nevada globally, a significant jump from 15th place last year. Saskatchewan rose to third globally from seventh last year, but it and Ontario are the only two Canadian jurisdictions in the top 10 for overall investment attractiveness in the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies. South Australia and Arizona round out the top five. Elmira Aliakbari, director of natural resource studies at the Fraser Institute and one of the report’s authors, said “results across Canada are mixed” compared to 2024. “For some provinces, like Ontario and Saskatchewan, we see a pretty significant improvement,” she said. The report attributes Ontario’s rise in the rankings to a decrease in concern expressed by miners over the province’s taxation regime, availability of skilled labour and political stability. However, Aliakbari said some other provinces and territories, such as Manitoba and Yukon, “have declined significantly this year compared to last.” The Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia came in at the bottom among Canadian jurisdictions, while New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were the lowest-rated jurisdictions in the country last year. The overall score for each jurisdiction ranked in the report is based on responses from 256 mining industry professionals and is a composite of two separate measures: one accounts for mineral potential, and the other captures perceptions of public policy among survey respondents. Aliakbari said Canadian jurisdictions with lower overall investment attractiveness also tend to perform poorly on the public policy perception component of the survey. “This means these jurisdictions have failed to capitalize on their strong mineral potential due to a lack of solid policy environment,” she said. For example, British Columbia performs well on the mineral endowment index, yet its overall ranking is hampered by perceptions of public policy. Specific topics of concern expressed by survey respondents are uncertainty about what areas are protected and disputed land claims as well as environmental regulations. The federal government has said one of its goals is “to strengthen critical minerals supply and promote innovation and sustainable practices across critical minerals value chains,” while its recent defence industrial strategy said there’s a national aspiration to take “the steps needed to secure a Canadian supply of critical raw materials” that are “vital to the defence supply chain.” But concerns in the mining industry about public policy in specific Canadian jurisdictions may impede progress on these federal government priorities. Aliakbari recommends governments strengthen their regulatory environments to improve performance across the board in Canada. She said policymakers must understand “mineral deposits alone are not enough. We need to adapt policies that attract committed investment as well.” Gold to take centre stage at PDAC, with some predicting prices will hit $10,000Clive Johnson, veteran miner and CEO of B2Gold, to retire in June