INFOGRAPHIC: Venture crisis

Over-regulation most certainly is a major problem. Securities regulations, unrealistic requirements for NI-43-101 reports, environmental permitting for initial exploration and unrealistic demands by First Nations during initial exploration all deter the process of discovery of mineral deposits. The investors, instead of being protected by these regulations, are being screwed over by the backbreaking costs of the regulations. Instead of the occasional mining scam scrapping off a few dollars from the investors we now have the investors in every junior company being forced to put a large percentage of their invested money into supporting regulatory and legal leaches. This money should be going into the discovery of new deposits not filling the pockets of these leaches and government bureaucrats.
Environmentally, the mining industry has been the victim of “city mentality” where the majority of people living in cities think that anything that happens that does not directly affect them is an environmental tragedy. Decisions that could be made by one government person in one day are now run through committees that take months if not years to come to a decision and may require all sorts of unnecessary studies costing the junior company huge amounts of vital investor money. The places where environmentalism should focus, to prevent real lasting damage, are the cities not the middle of nowhere, which once the mine is finished, will regrow once the mining is finished.