This has prompted a Canadian alliance of mineral exploration and mining associations to urge the country's various energy and mines ministers to adopt recommendations and take increased actions to ensure the country can better compete with other jurisdictions as an attractive destination for mineral investment, an area that has - according to the alliance - been "stagnant in recent years".

Canada's energy and mines ministers are currently convening in Iqaluit, Nunavut, for their 75th annual conference. This year, the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF) has added a seventh policy area to the brief it submitted to the conference, in the hope of restoring Canada's position as the world's top mineral exploration and mining jurisdiction.

"There is a critical need to address Canada's waning mineral investment and the various challenges impacting Canada's position as the top jurisdiction in the world to invest and explore—a reputation that until recently was undoubtedly ours," the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada's president Glenn Mullan said Monday.

"Canada's mining industry sets the global standard for socially, economically and environmentally responsible mining, and commitments made today by Energy and Mines Ministers, if implemented properly, have the potential to boost these efforts by providing needed support for one of Canada's most important economic sectors," added Mining Association of Canada president and CEO Pierre Gratton.

He pointed out that further advancement of the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan is an encouraging step forward in addressing some of the challenges the industry is currently facing and for positioning it for future success.

The policy areas comprise addressing regulatory challenges and red tape; enhancing indigenous participation and reconciliation in the mineral sector; ensuring increased access to prospective lands; adopting effective climate change policies; investing in innovation and geoscience, support remote operations and exploration in Canada's far northern regions, and to stimulate investment through strong fiscal policy.