Country Risk Indices for Mining Investment

Country risk indices provide quantitative and qualitative assessments of the political, regulatory, governance and corruption risks that affect mining investment decisions. They range from mining-specific frameworks (Fraser Institute Policy Perception Index, Behre Dolbear, MineHutte) to broader governance and corruption indices (World Bank WGI, Transparency International CPI, Heritage Foundation) used as supplementary inputs. This directory lists the principal indices with primary-source links to their methodology documentation.

Primary sources only 7 providers Updated 2026-06-19

Neutrality. TrueSource Metals Hub does not rank countries for mining investment or endorse any risk index methodology. Entries reproduce facts from each organisation's own publications. See the full Ecosystem neutrality statement.

Country risk index directory — mining investment

Alphabetical by organisation name.

Behre Dolbear — Ranking of Countries for Mining Investment

Role: Mining consultancy / country risk — Denver
Role: Annual country-by-country mining investment risk ranking; 8 qualitative factors including political system stability, permitting delays and social issues.
Coverage: 30+ countries assessed annually; free public report available at dolbear.com.

Primary source: dolbear.com — Publications

Fraser Institute — Annual Survey of Mining Companies

Role: Canadian think-tank / mining policy research — Vancouver
Role: Annual survey-based ranking of 75+ mining jurisdictions; Policy Perception Index measures policy factors (taxes, permits, uncertainty, infrastructure).
Coverage: 75+ national and subnational mining jurisdictions globally; survey data from 1,000+ mining executives annually.

Primary source: fraserinstitute.org — Mining

Heritage Foundation — Index of Economic Freedom

Role: US policy think-tank — Washington, DC
Role: Annual country-level economic freedom ranking; property rights and judicial effectiveness pillars are directly relevant to mining tenure security.
Coverage: 184 countries ranked annually; scores publicly available at heritage.org/index.

Primary source: heritage.org/index

MineHutte Ratings

Role: Mining country risk ratings — London
Role: Mining-specific country risk ratings; sector-adjusted scoring for permitting, royalties and political risk.
Coverage: Mining jurisdictions globally; ratings updated periodically.

Primary source: minehutte.com

NRGI — Natural Resource Governance Institute, Resource Governance Index

Role: Governance research NGO — New York
Role: Governance assessment for mineral-producing countries; measures transparency, accountability and oversight of extractive sector revenues.
Coverage: 18 mineral-producing countries in the 2021 edition; EITI and similar transparency frameworks are scored.

Primary source: resourcegovernance.org — RGI 2021

Transparency International — Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

Role: Anti-corruption NGO — Berlin
Role: Annual corruption perception ranking used as an input to mining country due diligence and ESG materiality assessments.
Coverage: 180 countries scored annually; data aggregated from 13 expert surveys and assessments.

Primary source: transparency.org/cpi

World Bank — Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI)

Role: World Bank Group — Washington, DC
Role: World Bank governance indicators used in sovereign risk assessments; Rule of Law and Regulatory Quality dimensions are most relevant to mining investment.
Coverage: 215+ economies; time series from 1996 to present; free public access at info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi.

Primary source: info.worldbank.org — WGI