South Africa appears to contribute less than 1% of global exploration spend, but this figure reflects only the work of listed companies. With only about 10 listed junior companies, the majority of exploration activity unfolds outside public reporting. By contrast, the Australian Securities Exchange lists more than 860 metals and mining companies and Canada’s hosts over 1 000 mining issuers. To address these gaps, the department of mineral and petroleum resources, working with the Industrial Development Corporation and Council for Geoscience, established the Junior Mining Exploration Fund. None of these appear in global exploration statistics because they are privately held.