The exploration sector remained depressed again in 2016, after a record high of more than $20.5 billion in 2012, exploration budgets have now fallen for four consecutive years. The 2016 exploration budgets by 1,580 companies totaled only $6.89 billion, a year-on-year drop of 21%. The average 2016 exploration budget among the surveyed companies was $4.4 million, the lowest since 2009, and the median budget was $800,000, which is the smallest in more than a decade.
These details and more can be found in the 2016 Corporate Exploration Strategies (CES) report, published by S&P Market Intelligence, working in conjunction with the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. The report covers an estimated 95% of worldwide commercially oriented nonferrous exploration budgets.
