In its title, Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Mineral Exploration Information Bulletin couldn’t be much drier, but the contents of the report released in April had lots of juicy bites.

The report has data on past mineral exploration activity and intentions for 2026. Thanks in large part to the current high price of gold, exploration spending in Canada is expected to grow by 21 per cent this year to $5.3 billion, with nearly $4 billion of that spent between Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. If explorers make good on their intentions, that would represent a record high.

While exploration for base metals is not expected to expand, activities focused on uranium—which almost doubled in 2022 and have risen steadily since—are projected to grow by 61 per cent this year. Iron ore exploration, though a relatively small piece of the spending pie, is expected to more than double in 2026.

Overall, the outlook seems positive. And that brings us to the “but.” One chart in the bulletin traces the correlation between dollars spent and the relative value of that spending with inflation factored in. As we head into the future, the gap between what is spent on exploration and what we get for the money spent is growing. What could be a record amount of money spent on exploration in 2026 will ultimately result in less actual exploration than in the past.

The trend began as we came out of the pandemic, has gotten worse, and given the interruption of global energy trade and the knock-on effects it is expected to have, will likely become even more pronounced.

With that as the backdrop, it is great to see that government, academia and industry in Canada are taking practical steps to make exploration more efficient. As Sara King-Abadi reports in “The data beneath our feet,” one of three great pieces in our “Data management” Upfront section, work is under way to create a public database of information from drill core samples. This effort comes at a time when technology advancements, whether for scanning and digitization or for analysis, have the potential to extract even more value from an accessible store of geological information.

No, a digital core library won’t make turning a drill any cheaper, but if the work performed is just reproducing what has already been done with the results stuffed away in a forgotten folder, then this public investment in a centralized, standardized library promises a good return on investment, which is a win the industry needs.

“Exploration spending reaches a new level” is an inspiring headline; “Efficiency in exploration spending continues its decline,” not so much.