Survey Of Gold Juniors Reveals Perk-Up But No Take-Off

Scott Wright has combed through his database of more than 400 junior exploration companies, as well as RBC Capital's 2009 round-up of gold-company financings, and has found that a large majority of the money was raised by junior and senior producers. There has been revivification of junior-exploration financings, but no waterfall of money. Many of the juniors are still playing it safe.

Regarding property locations: the largest geographical location was Canada, followed by the United States and Mexico. Juniors are sticking close to home. There's only a small minority in Australia, which Wright considers unusual, and a small minority in Africa and other areas.

Price-wise, the juniors have snapped back from their '08 guttings but there's no imminent mania developing.


His impresssions square with my own, from a more limited window. I have seen froth in the penny-stock market - I've watched one veritiable feeding frenzy lately - but the excitement is still selective. Blue sky still means dormancy; drill results are what matters. If a junor blotted the copybook earlier, it no longer enjoys trust from the market when it announces a new phase of drilling. There are pocket manias, but exploration-stock buyers are still choosy. Evidence of an overall growing mania is hard to find.