Before Christmas the annual mining industry World Risk Survey by the global risk analysts Control Risks was published in RESOURCESTOCKS' October 2011 edition.  

It provides fascinating results as it weighs up the various risk components of Financial Risk, Sovereign Risk, Land Access, Green Tape, Land Claims, Red Tape, Social Risk, Infrastructure, Civil Unrest, Natural Disasters, Labour Relations. 

Readers might be surprised by the results as the mining powerhouses of Australia and Canada do not make the Top Five, coming in at 7th and 9th respectively. Scandinavia tops the bill with Finland being the top ranked country and Sweden a close 4th. 

It is an interesting look at the overall risk picture. Taking the above eleven criteria into account, and seeing where the risk elements lie, before consolidating the scores to give an overall ranking can show that factors like the mining tax debate in Australia and the BHP Billiton/Potash Corporation investment played negatively on key criterion and caused a negative impact on the overall score. 

For those who missed it, here is the link to the article written by Blake Wilshaw.  http://www.resourcestocks.net/download/RES_1110_WorldRiskSurvey2011_EMAIL.pdf