In a report published by the Fraser Institute, British Columbia is placed at the 39th on international mining jurisdictions. Only Nunavut and Northwest Territories ranked below B.C.
The international survey conducted by the institute annually ranks mining investment opportunities by province, state and nation. Internationally Canada has done well with Alberta ranking number one in the world. Saskatchewan was third, Quebec fourth and Manitoba ninth.
The low ranking of the BC province has been attributed to a couple of reasons. The first is the issue of land claims with the First Nations which has been a cause of concern to more than one investor in the region. An ongoing issue which needs to be solved.
The second reason is the unclear regulations of the state government. As Alberta has very clear environmental regulations miners are sure of what is needed in the province. That is why Alberta is ranked at the top of the Canadian list.
Fred McMahon, one of the authors of the report said that miners know they have to follow regulations and know they have to pay taxes. They would much rather have tough regulations that were certain, that they actually knew what they had to do to meet the regulations then loose regulations where no one really knows what you have to do.