Capital Challenge

Junior miners under strain as investors increasingly look elsewhere

- Dylan Slater

Encouraging investment for junior miners is becoming a persistent issue amid faltering markets and investors increasingly seeking ways to settle their capital in other markets, stocks and companies that can guarantee its safeguarding and growth.

Based on the sentiment of participants of the inaugural Investment Battlefield competition (held at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, in February), this trend was highlighted as counterproductive for junior miners that rely on investors for capital to explore and develop their projects and, ultimately, start operating at a profit.

Raising capital for junior miners and their projects through external investment took centre stage during the competition, which was aimed specifically at highlighting the struggles of these marginalised role-players in the mining industry.

The Indaba was held from February 6 to 9 in Cape Town, with the Investment Battlefield competition taking place during a morning session on February 7. Representatives from16 junior mining companies presented their projects, including demonstrations on how investors could benefit from them, to a panel of judges.

The criteria for entering the competition were that projects had to have a market capitalisation of $50-million or less, or be managed by a privately owned company of equivalent market value, and projects had to be located in Africa and be easily identifiable as being operated by an actual mining company and not by a company simply owning an exploration licence.

Prizes, valued at more than £15 000, included free attendance passes, an exhibition stand and hotel accommodation for the 2018 Investing in African Mining Indaba.

Winner

London-based Consolidated Nickel Mines (CN M) – an operating subsidiary of Consolidated Mining & Investments, which is trying to restart the Munali nickel mine, in Zambia – was the winner of the competition.