Major gold producers have significantly shifted their focus to mine-site exploration at the expense of grassroots exploration over the past decade, says professional services firm SNL Metals & Mining. An analysis of the data compiled in SNL’s recently released profiles of the world’s top 20 gold producers reveals that, from 2006 to 2015, the share of the producers’ total gold exploration budgets devoted to near-mine work rose from 44% to 54%, while the share allocated to greenfield programmes decreased from 40% to 22%.
