Australia’s largest state finished 15th last year but jumped back into the top 10 this year and was the top ranked jurisdiction globally for investment attractiveness.
 
WA also ranked second in terms of geological attractiveness behind Alaska but in front of Nevada, Chile and British Columbia.
 
South Australia also improved its overall 20th rank last year, jumping up into the 11th spot, while Tasmania was the most improved, jumping from 49th to 27th.
 
The Northern Territory went from 22nd to 13th, while Queensland was 24th, up eight spots.
 
Queensland Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said the results showed the government was delivering on its election promise to grow the resources sector.
 
“We promised to streamline policies and reduce red tape to restore the reputation of Queensland as a world leader in the resources sector and this report shows our commitment and our activities are delivering positive outcomes,” he said.
 
Victoria dropped to 33rd from 24th, while New South Wales was the worst-ranked Australian jurisdiction in 39th place.
 
Sweden edged out Finland to be the top-ranked jurisdiction, with Finland followed by Alberta, Ireland, Wyoming, WA, New Brunswick, Nevada, Newfoundland & Labrador and Norway.
 
Fraser Institute energy and natural resources senior director and survey director Kenneth Green said miners looked for competitive taxation regimes, sound legal systems and low uncertainty surrounding land claims.
 
“The confidence mining executives have in Sweden and Finland, for example, proves that it’s possible to enact sound environmental protections and still maintain a successful mining industry,” he said.
 
On the flipside the 10 least attractive jurisdictions for miners (in order from the worst) were Kyrgyzstan, Venezuela, the Philippines, La Rioja (Argentina), Angola, Mendoza (Argentina), Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Madagascar.
 
The Philippines and Indonesia were also the two top-ranked “room for improvement countries”, followed by China, Ecuador and Bolivia.
 
Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, Guatemala and Greece all moved out of the bottom 10 this year, with the DRC moving to 85th and Vietnam jumping to the 60th spot.
 
Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy think-tank, with the survey being released each year to coincide with PDAC in Toronto.
 
This year, 690 miners responded to the survey, with the number of jurisdictions increasing to 112 from 96 last year.
 
Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Thailand and Uruguay all appeared in the survey for the first time.
 
The exploration budgets reported by companies participating in the survey fell to $US3.4 billion ($A3.8 billion) last year from $4.6 billion in 2012.