The article offers information on the performance of mining exploration during 2008 worldwide. During the last quarter of the year, the industry experienced a major decline when it encountered an abrupt international economic slump, leaving producers and industry vendors nervously peering ahead to assess if the next obstacle would be worse than expected. Because of the economic crisis, there is a quick unraveling of commodity prices, disappearance of credit sources for junior companies and a mass exodus of investors, leaving the mineral exploration funding and activity in a dire situation.
EM&J's annual survey of global mining investment in the year 2010 is presented. During 2010, 105 new mining investment projects with total announced costs of $60 billion were registered in Raw Materials Data Metals Mines/Projects database. The RMD Metals database includes approximately 1,800 projects, mostly in the conceptual stage, for which no investment figure has been announced. In 2010, six new silver projects were announced with a total investment of more than $4 billion, while political interest in rare earths also resulted in four new projects outside China with a total investment of more than $3 billion. Australia became the leading country for mining investors, of the 20 largest projects in Australia, 11 are for iron ore and all require investment of more than $1 billion.
E & MJ has conducted an annual survey of global mining investment and reported that less than 100 new mining investments projects, with a total projected cost of just $32 billion, were added to RMG's project database in 2009. The report states that strong demand for metals and high prices for gold, copper and iron ore will lead to significant project investment toward the end of 2010. It reveals that total funding in the global mining industry's project pipeline, according to RMG's database, was $465 billion at the end of 2009. The investment value of projects under construction increased in 2009 to $50 billion, compared with $37 billion in 2008. The report states that among the new projects listed by RMG during 2009, gold accounts for more than 28% of the value of all new projects, uranium accounts for 5% and nickel represents 3% of the total investment for new projects.
E&MJ conducted an annual survey of global investment in the mining sector in 2008. The survey revealed that global economic crisis had an adverse effect on investments in the sector. It revealed that only 158 new mining investment projects with an estimated total cost of $81 billion were registered in Raw Materials Group's Raw Materials Data Metals (RMD) Metals) Mines and Projects database during 2008. It was observed that the mining sector recorded significant growth in 2006, with 200 new projects, while investments in new projects started declining during 2008, due to decreasing metal prices. The RMD metals database also revealed that the total investment in the industry's potential projects amounted to $409 billion during the year. Updated project costs revealed that the trend of increasing costs continued to increase as noticed earlier.
The article focuses on the results of the 2014 annual survey of global metal-mining investment of the periodical. The survey found a reduced level of investment in the industry due to bad global economy. Topics discussed include of decline in new project, reduced capital expenditure and rise in projects cost. It also presents a table that lists several mining investment projects in the World as of December 2013.
The article discusses contribution of mining in middle and low income countries to national economic and social development and mentions statistical analysis of the contribution of non-fuel minerals mining. Topics discussed include contribution of minerals and mining to gross domestic product (GDP), production value at mine stage of metallic minerals, and value of mineral production at the mine stage.