Worldwide exploration activity (as measured by the number of prospects where drilling is reported) is currently barely one-third the level of end-2011. However, the number of prospects reporting exploration activity in the Nordic countries has remained relatively unaffected. Moreover, the reported tonnage of new resources in that region increased for most metals last year compared with the new resource tonnage reported in 2011. The picture shows a Caterpillar 795 at Aitik copper mine in Sweden.

According to the annual State of the Market: Nordic Region report from IntierraRMG, there was an almost ten-fold increase in newly found copper resources announced in the Nordic countries last year, compared with the tonnage unveiled in 2011. IntierraRMG Managing Director, Peter Rossdeutscher expands further; Additional “gold resources rose almost four-fold in the Nordic region in 2012, and the tonnage of rare earth minerals almost tripled. However, new nickel resources were half the tonnage of 2011, and iron-ore resources reported in the Nordic area were only one-third of the level announced in 2011.”

The report notes that the number of prospects reporting drilling activity in the Nordic region has averaged about ten per month for the past three years. In contrast, the global total has slumped from a high of circa 900 prospects per month two years ago to only 300 prospects/month for the past six months. Actual exploration expenditure in the Nordic countries is dominated by Sweden, Finland and Greenland; with each reporting exploration expenditure of around €80 million ($108 million) last year.

Rossdeutscher concludes; “On a project basis, Finland and Sweden dominate the region’s drilling activity. Finland contributed almost three-quarters of the Nordic gold exploration in 2012 (in terms of the number of active prospects), and Finland and Sweden contributed a combined 82% of the region’s copper exploration. Greenland dominates the search for rare earth minerals (with six of the nine Nordic prospects in 2012), and drilling activity in Greenland was reported for a total of ten different metals last year. Exploration in Norway was reported for gold, copper and nickel, with the latter metal being the target in all four countries.”