Categories: Base Metals / General Market Commentary / Precious Metals
Topics: General Base Metals / General Market Commentary / General Precious Metals

These 10 companies spend most looking for gold, copper

These 10 companies spend most looking for gold, copper

A new report by SNL Metals and Mining on exploration spending by the largest mining companies, documents the shifting sands in the mining industry last year as the sector began to turn around.

SNL, part of S&P Global, notes that larger players allocated a total of nearly $2.2 billion for non-ferrous exploration during the year. Companies with the 20 largest exploration budgets in 2016 accounted for 31% of the just under $6.9 billion worldwide exploration total.

The top 10 companies were responsible for over $1 of every $5 spent on exploration worldwide last year with combined budgets of some $1.46 billion.

Exploration for gold represented 56% of the total budget of the largest players – gold companies usually dominate the top 20 list. Together copper and gold account for 90% of the budgets of the top 10 companies.

The 12 largest gold miners spending on exploration came to 37% of worldwide gold allocations. Two companies, Canada’s Agnico-Eagle and South Africa-based Gold Fields joined the top ten for the first time spending $111 million and $125 million respectively.

These 10 companies spend most looking for gold, copper

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

Last year’s top spender AngloGold Ashanti allocated nearly half its $185 million budget to brownfield projects with the lion’s share going into Colombia.

Larger players represented 34% of the global total spent on copper exploration. In turn two companies, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta accounted for nearly half of the spending by the top 20 companies delineating and finding copper deposits.

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