PDAC 2016

Another article from Industrial Minerals.

PDAC 2016: Juniors trial different business models to tempt investors

By Kasia Patel  Published: Friday, 11 March 2016

With investors more risk averse than ever, particularly with regards to the extraction industry, junior companies are turning to shortcuts in technology and planning in order to make it to the finish line. This year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada, was better attended than in 2015 and the general mood was more optimistic, despite the lack of investor confidence in higher risk investments.

PDAC 2016
Sentiment at PDAC was more positive in 2016 than it was a year ago, although investors continue to be shy of investing in the crowded junior mining industry against a backdrop of low mineral prices (source: IM).

Simply ticking off the necessary components of an early stage mining business –acquiring valuable assets, using funds to advance exploration and delivering positive feasibility studies, have left many companies stuck and strapped for cash, unable to proceed further.

“Today the market doesn’t want to see a preliminary economic assessment (PEA), that’s not what’s important now,” Kiril Mugerman, CEO of TSX­V­listed rare earths development company GeoMega Resources Inc., told IM. The company is bypassing – at least temporarily – what it calls “the mountain” of building a rare earths mine, opting to develop its separation technology first, meeting customer specifications and working to streamline its flow sheet.

Proof of concept is reassuring for mining investors, but arguably the most compelling way of getting financiers to put their hands in their pockets is evidence of downstream demand growth.

Read the full article HERE.
Some pictures from geomega’s booth at PDAC 2016: