Has political risk scared mineral investment away from the deposits in developing countries?

In reply to recent assertions of a sharp diversion of metal mineral exploration and mining investment from developing to industrialized countries, the author argues that these worries are misdirected because they concentrate entirely on foreign direct investment and fail to consider the changes in other forms of mineral investments in developing countries. This paper shows that despite the political and economic changes which have diminished the willingness of multinational mining firms to undertake new traditional direct investment commitments in the Thrid World, the share of developing countries in Western World metal mineral activity is rising.