NSW now more attractive for mining investment – but more progress needed

25 February, 2021

The release of the Fraser Institute’s Annual Mining Survey shows that NSW has improved its ranking as an attractive jurisdiction for mining investment, however it’s clear more needs to be done as domestic and international competitors continue to outperform our state.

NSW has improved on trend in the Fraser Institute’s mining investment attractiveness index from a score of 61.84 in 2016 to 72.64 in 2020.  Our overall global ranking has also improved from 64th out of 104 in 2016 to 27th out of 77 in 2020. 

This improvement has been driven by a strong increase in the perception of NSW’s mineral potential, reflecting exciting recent exploration results in NSW and additional data being released by the NSW Geological Survey.

However, NSW is still ranked last out of all Australian states on the Fraser Institute’s policy perception index, lagging significantly behind Western Australia and Queensland and even ranking below Tasmania in terms of how our state’s mining policies are viewed. 

Our score of 72 – while the best result in the last five years – still remains below the target of averaging 75 over the 5 years to 2025 set by the NSW Government in the NSW Minerals Strategy released in early 2019.

“It’s encouraging that NSW has improved in attractiveness for global mining investment. This improvement suggests recent NSW Government policies on the future development of our coal and minerals resources are starting to have an impact, as are reforms to reduce assessment timeframes for mining projects. 

“This progress also reflects the strong leadership of Deputy Premier John Barilaro who made an early commitment as portfolio Minister to improve the attractiveness of NSW for mining investment,” NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said today.

“However more progress is needed to achieve this ambition as problems within our jurisdiction remain, especially within complex NSW regulatory and assessment systems,” he said.

“Our mining industry competes with other states and international jurisdictions for investment. 
Global perceptions of a poor policy environment here in NSW will mean billions in investment and thousands of jobs will instead go interstate or overseas.”

ends.

The full Fraser Institute report can be found here.