As per a Fraser Institute survey of 51 international jurisdictions Alberta is apparently the most attractive place for mining investment, while Ottawa and the provinces need to resolve jurisdictional issues concerning First Nations land claims.
Ottawa has headed the list for the last three years but slipped to the third position this year. A contributing factor may have been the increased mining taxes in its spring budget. The plans to conduct a review of its mining legislation later this fall also caused some uncertainty.
While Alberta was at the fourth position in last year's rankings being home to a large coal mining industry it ranked high in most factors considered in the study. These factors included taxation, environmental regulations and uncertainty regarding disputed land claims.
The biggest loser this year was Australia and it came as no surprise to anyone. The uncertainty over the federal government's proposed tax on the mining industry has played havoc with investments past and future.
As per Fraser's McMahon the Congo would beat Alberta any day in terms of prospectively but Alberta would easily beat out Congo on policy.