ATTRACTING investment into mining projects, especially greenfields development, has become increasingly difficult with specialist mining funds finding a buyers’ market for new projects, said Reuters citing executives at a recent conference.
“In terms of the capital markets, particularly for exploration, if it’s not blockchain, crypto-currency or marijuana, then it doesn’t get a run,” Reuters cited Owen Hegarty, executive chairman of private equity fund EMR Capital, as saying.
Julian Treger, CEO of Anglo Pacific Group, which invests in mining companies to secure access to royalties, said generalist investors’ shift into new trends such as crypto investing and medical marijuana, has given more specialised investors leeway to pick projects. “We have seen 300 projects this year and we have done two. It’s a buyers’ market,” he said.
Global private equity fund Denham Capital, which has just closed a $560m mining fund, could invest in three times the number of projects its funds would allow, said MD Bert Koth. “I know from my own fund raising that the pool of available capital in the mining industry has shrunk by about 70% compared to five, six, seven years ago.”
