Preliminary results for global exploration budget data from S&P Global Market Intelligence's Corporate Exploration Strategies, or CES, series shows that exploration budgets decreased in 2023 due languishing financing activity for the junior sector after metal prices pulled back from the highs reached in 2021 & 2022. We estimate that the global nonferrous exploration budget decreased 3% in 2023 to $12.6 billion from $13.1 billion in 2022.

Many of our expectations for budgets this year played out. The junior sector, which is reliant on the marketplace to fund their activities, decreased while the major companies saw a modest increase. Exploration for critical minerals saw significant gains whereas gold budgets fell off. Geographically, both Australia and Canada had the largest declines as their large junior explorer populations encountered issues funding their programs; in both countries, gold exploration was most impacted. In contrast, exploration directed to Latin America increased this year on the back of stronger copper and lithium allocations. Despite the overall decrease in budgets, the number of active explorers increased modestly to 2,234 in 2023 from 2,189 in 2022.

The current weakness in both metal prices and financing levels is currently expected to persist through 2023 and into at least the first half of 2024. This will restrict any significant increases to budgets for next year. Continuing interest in the mining supply chain however, should help insulate the sector from any significant decreases in exploration levels.

Join our analysts as we review 2023 and look ahead to 2024:

• Exploration by commodity, geography and project stage of development
• Discovery trends
• Recent drilling and financing activity
• 2024 exploration outlook