Defining geological maturity: The effect of discoveries on early-stage mineral exploration

Emilio Castillo () and Cintia Roa

Resources Policy, 2021, vol. 74, issue C

Abstract: Mining investment and competitiveness depend mostly on two variables: the institutional framework and the geological maturity. Particularly, the geological maturity depends on the combined effect between positive information spillovers, and the negative effect from the depletion of exploration opportunities. Using copper and gold discoveries, we estimate geological maturity as the effect of discoveries on early-stage exploration expenditures. Results suggest that each additional copper discovery has an effect that is not different than zero, signaling that information spillovers and depletion effects are balanced. On the other hand, each additional gold discovery has a positive and significant effect, suggesting that information spillovers still dominate over the depletion of exploration opportunities.

Keywords: Non-renewable resources; Mineral exploration; Geological maturity; Geological information; Discoveries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L72 Q32 Q38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420721003871
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:74:y:2021:i:c:s0301420721003871

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102378

Access Statistics for this article

Resources Policy is currently edited by R. G. Eggert

More articles in Resources Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().