Global non-ferrous budgets up 19%, S&P

According to Mining News Pro -LONDON, U.K. – From the metals and mining research team at S&P Global Market Intelligence comes news that global non-ferrous exploration budgets are up 19% year-over-year. This marks the second year in a row that such spending has increased from the previous year.

The report has more good news. Global non-ferrous budgets totaled US$10.1 billion. Junior companies upped their spending by 35%. Cobalt and lithium budget are also on the rise – up 500% since 2015. Canada, Australia and the United States all recorded above average increases.

Canada remains the top country for non-ferrous mineral exploration with companies reporting US$1.44 billion spent this year. Second place Australian exploration rose 23% and the United States rose 34%. In these countries, gold exploration accounted for more than 55% of the total.

Despite the rise in exploration spending, the level of equity market support is still below peak levels of 2010-12.