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A recession, a slowdown in demand, a crashing Eurozone and a shaking of confidence - we have all lived through the past three years and seen the effects on the industrial minerals sector. But what does the space look like now for junior miners? Siobhan Lismore, editor, finds out.
"It ain't no trick / to get rich quick / if ya dig dig dig" Heigh Ho, written by Frank Churchill (music) and Larry More for Snow White
Image: Canada Lithium2012 saw a crash in the Eurozone, a tickdown in the Chinese economy and insecurity growing around the US economy, leaving most indications at bearish for the year ahead.
However, a panel made up of the broader finance community at December's Mines & Money conference in London argued that 2012 "was the last of the bad years".
"We have been through the last of the bad years. There is clearly money around for good stories and good management," John Harrison, executive chairman, London, RFC Ambrian, a specialist resource and energy sector corporate finance and stockbroking group, said.
But if that is the case, what should junior miners be doing in the coming months and years?
'Be creative'
Junior mining companies have to now be more creative when looking for funding, the panel agreed.
"For many of the smaller companies in the field, we are talking about the fact that the money is there, but you need to look in different locations. Your traditional or private broker is not there," John Carlesso, president of Cervello Capital, a Toronto-based private merchant bank, told conference delegates.
"There are other opportunities out there; it is a question of being creative and it's a question ofEfinding the right kind of assets," he added.
Chris Berry, founder of market research firm House Mountain Partners, who was speaking during December at IM's graphite conference in London, agreed that junior miners have to be creative when looking for funding, but they must also be prepared to fail, adding that the present drought in the funding community is akin to the "Sahara desert".
"Things look bleak in this sphere," he said.
"Equity finance is not in a drought, it's a Sahara desert [E] But the good projects will get built," he added.
"In today's situation,...