(EnergyAsia, Oct 7 2011, Friday) — Finland is the best country for mining and petroleum investment, according to Aspermont’s RESOURCESTOCKS magazine’s 2011 World Risk Survey, while Australia showed renewed appeal for companies.

With a score of 7, Finland had the lowest and therefore best risk rating out of a potential maximum high-risk score of 34. The country reclaimed the top spot, a position it held in the 2008 survey.

Finland beat Chile (9.7), Burkina Faso (11.2), Botswana and Sweden (both 11.3), the US (11.4), Australia (11.8), Brazil (11.9), Canada (12.4) and Argentina (13.1).

The survey results, compiled from a questionnaire sent to more than 1000 resource sector professionals, were published in the October edition of RESOURCESTOCKS magazine.

Respondents were asked to rank jurisdictions according to the perceived risk in the following criteria: financial risk, sovereign risk, land access, green tape, land claims, red tape, social risk, infrastructure, civil unrest, natural disasters and labour relations.

A weighting formula was used to assign relative importance to each category.

While marking countries, RESOURCESTOCKS also ranked Canadian provinces and Australian states as separate entities.

Australia had a strong showing in seventh position, a much better performance than 2010 when it was in 26th spot.

RESOURCESTOCKS editor Blake Wilshaw said:

“Finland topping the list as the investment and operating centre with the lowest risk shows it has shrugged off the economic turmoil of the past few years. The country has a long history of mining and a government which is very supportive of foreign investment and new ventures.

“Australia had a strong showing in seventh position, a much better performance than 2010 when it was in 26th spot. The improved outcome for Australia is a reflection of the time since the survey was undertaken in 2010, which was at the height of super-profits tax and federal election concerns for the industry.”

The 2010 survey marked Australia severely in areas of sovereign risk, financial risk, land access, green tape, red tape and land claims.

“Twelve months on, issues over the Minerals Resource Rent Tax have fallen off somewhat,” Mr Wilshaw said.

“The resources sector would also take confidence in the Labor government’s recent hit in opinion polls, particularly after instituting an unpopular carbon tax and bungling a contentious and illegal asylum seeker policy.”

Canada finished first in 2010 but took a hit this year, with red tape bringing down the North American resources behemoth.

While still ranking an impressive ninth, the nation suffered in the financial risk and red tape categories.

“Tighter scrutiny of environmental issues and concerns about investment restrictions hurt Canada’s standing,” Mr Wilshaw said. “These issues are not new but have become more prominent recently, such as the blocking of BHP Billiton’s purchase of PotashCorp, which will negatively impact the appeal of Canada as an investment destination.

”While marking countries, RESOURCESTOCKS also ranked Canadian provinces and Australian states as separate entities.

This year Nova Scotia, South Australia and Western Australia were best with a risk rating of 10.4, which would have placed them third-highest when placed against countries.

New South Wales (10.6) and the Northern Territory (11) performed strongly, while Queensland (14.2) was ranked most risky among Australian states.