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PROJECT SURVEY 2014 in 2012. This is not surprising considering the sharply lower gold price last year. Thirteen new iron-ore projects were announced in 2013, along with six new copper projects (compared with 16 and 21, respectively, in 2012). Overall, gold is still the most popular metal in terms of the number of new projects in 2013, but the number of new nickel projects actually increased in 2013 (after a poor year in 2012), with five new projects at a total investment of $2,300 million. Surprisingly, the interest in silver projects also revived in 2013, with eight new projects (total planned investment of $735 million). Uranium gained six projects, and three new lead-zinc projects were added to the pipeline in 2013. North American Investment Share Grows Latin America maintained its top position in 2013, with its share of the total investment pipeline increasing to 29%. This share is lower, however, than the 32% recorded in 2010. North America's share of the total is growing strongly, up from 15% in 2010 to 20% in 2012 and the same share again last year. In absolute terms, the continent accounted for $161 billion in 2013, compared with $86 billion in 2010. Europe, including all of Russia, reached a share of 13% in 2013, compared with 10% in 2012 (gaining an additional $26 billion). Asia reached an investment peak of 14% in 2009 and has fallen since, accounting for only 9% in 2013. Africa's share of total world investment remained at 14% last year, but the dollar amount increased to $110 billion. The investment pipeline in North America grew by $15 billion in 2013, and fell in Oceania by $5 billion. The Latin American project pipeline shows the highest projectinvestment average of all regions. This is a result of the large number of mega-projects in the continent. The average investment is $780 million in Latin America, which is more than twice the Asia figure ($340 million). The other regions are in between these two extremes: Europe $563 million, Africa $549 million, North America $740 million and Oceania $572 million. Canada and Australia Swap Positions The growth of the cumulative share of the top 10 countries rose in 2013, compared with 2012, and reached 72%. Australia and Canada remain the top two countries, and dominate both in terms of the capital expenditure volumes and the number of projects. Canada, however, outperformed Australia last year, taking the leading position with investments of $117 billion (a growth of 12%). Australia, on the other hand, suffered a fall of 5%. Together they account for $217 billion divided over 328 projects. Russia is in third place, moving from fifth in 2012, with investments of $74 billion, an increase of 53%. The main reason why Russia has increased its ranking is the announcement of three high-cost projects this year. The Oroyek poly-metallic deposit, with Mining Project Investment by Region, 2013 Share Trend (2012 to 2013) ↔ → → ↔ → 28 E&MJ; • JANUARY 2014 Share (Percent) 014 009 013 029 020 015 100 → Africa Asia Europe Latin America North America Oceania TOTAL Investment (US$ billion) 110 072 103 229 161 116 791 Mining Project Investment by Country, 2013 Canada Australia Russia Chile Brazil Peru United States South Africa Mexico The Philippines TOTAL Investment (US$ billion) 117 100 074 069 057 049 045 025 018 017 571 Share (Percent) 15 13 09 09 07 06 06 03 02 02 72 Rank in 2012 02 01 05 03 04 06 07 08 11 10 a preliminary cost of $5 billion, was announced by the Russian government but has not yet been put up for auction. The Elanskoye nickel deposit, owned by Norilsk Nickel, has around $3.3 billion in capital expenditure, and also includes the Elkinskoye deposit. Intergeo has the $2.3 billion Kingashsky nickel-copper-PGM project. The company is a subsidiary of Onexim Group, owned by Mikhail Prokhorov. Each of those projects involves base-metal, and particularly nickel, deposits. Most of the projects in Russia are financed by local investors, and the share of funding from abroad is minimal. It has previously been concluded that there is a trend toward a more even spread of mining investment across the globe. On the contrary, it now seems that a limited number of countries attract a large share of the investments. The growing trend toward "resource nationalism" is most certainly a key factor in this trend. Countries perceived as stable are receiving increased attention. Russia and Mexico saw strong increases (26%), with the latter making it into the top-10 ranking. Peru last year increased its investment by 13% to $49 billion, with Brazil, South Africa and Philippines growing by 8%–10%. The United States also continued to grow but at a slower pace (5% in 2013, compared with 34% in 2012). Countries that weakened in 2013 included Chile, Canada and Guinea (the latter dropping from the list of top countries with a 21% decrease in investment). Even though Australia fell from top place in terms of the value of its overall investments, it is still the leading country regarding the number of projects in the pipeline. Iron-ore projects in Australia continue to dominate, and account for nine of the top 30 iron-ore projects worldwide, with total investment of $33 billion. Canada has a much wider mix of projects, including several gold and base metal projects among the global top 20; with five iron-ore projects, 12 gold projects, two copper projects, five nickel projects, four diamond and four uranium projects on the list. The changed ranking left Canada in top place, pushing Australia out. Russia rose to fifth position, with Chile and Brazil falling. Mexico's increased investment level moved it to eighth place, exchanging slots with Guinea. Below the cutoff are Papua New Guinea, Argentina, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Sweden, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon and Kazakhstan (in that order). Each country has a portfolio of projects amounting to $8–$16 billion. The investment figure for China is most certainly an underestimate, since many of the projects run by the state-owned companies are never reported in channels that reach the international mining press. With comparable reporting from China there is no www.e-mj.com