This year's Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies involved more than 3 000 mining entities representing 71 jurisdictions on every continent except the Antarctica. Botswana was ranked 18th overall in the world, coming behind global leaders mainly concentrated in North America. 2009 thus marks the fourth year in a row Botswana has been ranked the preferred mining destination in Africa, starting from the 2005/06 survey. All respondents who commented on Botswana said it had the most favourable policies towards mining.
Botswana, with an index score of 64.9, was ahead of other African states such as Mali (53.6), Namibia (52.5), Ghana (51.3) and Burkina Faso (45.1). South Africa was ranked 10th in Africa with 40.4. Botswana also eclipsed many more developed jurisdictions such as several states in the United States, several Australian provinces, most European countries and most Latin American countries. The index score is extracted from several criteria that the survey looks at. Respondents are asked to comment on individual countries' performances in terms of criteria such as current mineral potential, political stability, labour regulations, geological database, security, supply of labour, environmental regulations, availability of infrastructure, taxation and others.
