Mineral exploration investment in global context
- Critical mineral reserves & production — what Canada holds in the ground and how much it actually produces.
- Mine permitting & development times — how long it takes to turn a discovery into a producing mine.
- Critical mineral refining capacity — the refining and processing chokepoint between ore and finished material.
- Energy capital investment — capital spending across the energy and resource sector.
- Investment screening regime — how Canada vets foreign control of strategic assets.
Exploration budgets are private capital betting, years ahead of any revenue, that a jurisdiction is worth searching. On that measure Canada is a durable winner, a rare Strong in this tool. The reserves metric showed Canada is richly endowed; the permitting metric showed it converts discoveries to mines slowly. Capital attraction comes before both, and it is the part that works. The caveats concern the shape of the spending rather than Canada's place in it.
Among individual countries, Canada has led the world in exploration spending every year since 2021. Latin America as a region draws more in total (US$3.28B in 2025), but that is spread across Chile, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil; no single country comes close to Canada. The depth of Canada's junior-mining ecosystem and the Toronto Stock Exchange (which alone raised US$9.9 billion for mining companies in 2025) is the machinery behind the lead.
Domestically, Natural Resources Canada counts about CAD 4.2 billion of exploration and deposit-appraisal spending in 2025 — a broader measure than the S&P figure (it includes deposit appraisal and is in Canadian dollars). Three provinces take roughly two-thirds of it, and 2025 marks a changing of the guard: Quebec overtakes Ontario as the leading jurisdiction, while Saskatchewan, driven by uranium and potash, keeps climbing.
| 2024 (preliminary) | 2025 (intentions) | |
|---|---|---|
| Quebec | 800.1 | 1144.9 |
| Ontario | 1067.3 | 898.8 |
| British Columbia | 697.4 | 537 |
| Saskatchewan | 561.6 | 663.1 |
| Nfld & Labrador | 243.9 | 258.1 |
| Nunavut | 197.9 | 291.7 |
| Yukon | 154.7 | 145.9 |
| Manitoba | 146.6 | 142.8 |
About 19% of the global exploration budget came to Canada in 2025, #1 among all countries for the fifth straight year, ahead of Australia (US$1.86B) and the US (US$1.46B). The front of the resource pipeline, the part markets fund, genuinely works.
Global exploration budgets fell for a third straight year to US$12.4B; Canada's own budget slipped 6% and active explorers dropped from 628 to 580. Canada is leading a contracting, more risk-averse market. The position is strong. The pool is shrinking.
Grassroots (new-discovery) exploration fell to an all-time-low 21% of global spend while minesite work hit a record 45%. Capital is expanding known deposits rather than finding new ones. With ~16 years from discovery to production, today's grassroots drought is tomorrow's supply gap.
Gold is 55% of Canada's exploration budget; lithium fell to 8% (from 12%) as prices crashed, and nickel exploration dropped 37% nationally. The capital chases the metal that pays today, not necessarily the ones the energy transition will need. The reserves page finds the same tilt in which minerals actually get developed.
The verdict is Strong, with eyes open. Canada's ability to attract the world's exploration capital is a real and durable competitive advantage, rooted in geology, a deep junior-mining ecosystem, and the TSX. The qualifications (a contracting global pool, a historic retreat from grassroots discovery, and a gold-weighted mix) are reasons to watch the trend, not to doubt the standing. The capital arrives; the unresolved questions sit downstream, in how fast Canada builds and whether it can process what it finds.
Canada attracted about US$2.3 billion of exploration spending in 2025, roughly 19% of the global budget, and ranked first among all countries for the fifth year running.
- Compared with
- All countries ranked by 2025 nonferrous mineral-exploration budgets in S&P Global's World Exploration Trends 2026, of which the page charts the top five single countries.
- Where Canada sits
- Canada is #1 among single countries at US$2.3B in 2025, ahead of Australia (US$1.86B) and the United States (US$1.46B). Latin America draws more as a region (US$3.28B), but spread across several countries.
- Which way it is moving
- Down. Canada's own budget slipped 6% and active explorers fell from 628 to 580, while global budgets fell for a third straight year to US$12.4B. Canada is holding its lead in a shrinking pool.
- What the verdict follows
- Position in the peer set. The page treats the shrinking pool, the record-low 21% grassroots share, and the gold-heavy mix as forward risks, and the verdict rests on the rank.
- Data basis
- S&P Global Market Intelligence, World Exploration Trends 2026 (2025 nonferrous budgets), with Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Mineral Exploration (March 2025) for the provincial breakdown. Data current to 2025. Page last reviewed June 2026.
Primary sources
- S&P Global Market Intelligence, World Exploration Trends 2026 — nonferrous exploration budgets by country and commodity, 2025; grassroots/minesite split; financing.
- Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Mineral Exploration (2025) — exploration and deposit-appraisal spending by province/territory, commodity, and company type.
Methodology notes
- Two measures. S&P figures are nonferrous exploration budgets in US dollars, used for the cross-country ranking. NRCan figures are exploration plus deposit appraisal across all commodities in Canadian dollars, used for the domestic provincial breakdown. They are different baskets and are labelled accordingly; do not add them together.
- Country vs region. Canada is the #1 single country; Latin America is a larger region but split across several countries, so it is not charted as one bar.
- Direction of verdict. "Strong" reflects Canada's #1 capital-attraction standing. The grassroots-share and commodity-mix figures are flagged as forward-looking risks, not as the basis for the verdict.
