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EXPLORATION 32 E&MJ; • MAY 2017 www.e-mj.com site budgets," DeCoff went on. "Compa- nies have spent proportionally more on late-stage projects to move them towards production or to make them attractive for acquisition, while minesite work has been perceived as a less expensive and less risky means of replacing and adding reserves." While S&P; predicts a slight increase in major companies' exploration budgets this year, it also believes that juniors will still be cutting back. In consequence, the current trend of declining grassroots ex- ploration is likely to continue, S&P; says, since this is predominantly undertaken by junior companies. Gold Companies on the Up Sounding an optimistic note, Barrick Gold pointed out that around 80% of its total 2017 exploration budget of $185- $225 million is being allocated to the Americas. "After several years of explo- ration focused primarily on existing core districts and projects, we are increasing our budget and broadening our focus to include new greenfield opportunities," the company said. With Barrick having actually spent $132 million on exploration and evalua- tion in 2016, well within its $115-145 million guidance range, the potential in - crease in spending this year is particular- ly welcome. Significant greenfield targets for the year within the company's explora- tion portfolio include the Fourmile target, adjacent to Goldrush in Nevada, and the Frontera district on the border between Argentina and Chile. Newmont has also indicated that it will be spending more on exploration this year. The company has said that it expects to boost its exploration and ad- vanced projects expenditure by 22% from the $148 million spent in 2016, with about two-thirds of the budget go- ing to fund more brownfield and green- field exploration. For comparison, New- mont spent $156 million on exploration in 2015, and $163 million in 2014, so its year-on-year reductions have been no- tably less severe than those imposed by some other companies. Goldcorp is another company that ap- pears to be betting on a recovery. While it spent $34 million on exploration and eval- uation in 2016, compared to $51 million Figure 2—Gold exploration spending by region in 2016, as a percentage of total reported budgets. (Source: S&P; Global Market Intelligence) Figure 3—Ten-year trends in exploration spending, by stage. (Source: S&P; Global Market Intelligence)