Arizona target of record global mineral exploration spending

The nonferrous metals mining industry "aggregate exploration total jumped 44% in 2010 and a further 50% in 2011, more than doubling from 2009’s recent low of $8.4 billion to the new all-time high of $18.2 billion in 2011" according to the annual World Exploration Trends 2012 report issued by the Minerals Economic Group at the PDAC conference in Toronto [right].

Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska accounted for almost two thirds of all the exploration spending in the U.S.

The report also noted that "Although gold continued to attract more than half of all spending in the
United States, base metals reached its second-highest percentage share in the past decade, based in part on increased copper exploration in Arizona and Utah."