"Buy While The Buying Is Good"

That's the theme of a Reuters article highlighting the acquisition trail that's heating up. Gold-deposit M&A's temperature is rising on both ends of the deal path, amongst sellers as well as buyers. The article credits the revival of the capital markets for the increase in acquisitions last year. According to an analyst in the sector, the deals have tended to be at fair value: no overheating, but no buying at deep discounts either. The main motivator amongst the gold-major buyers has been a need to increase their reserves because in-house exploration hasn't garnered enough. (For the juniors, a quick gain plus hurdling the still-formidable finance barrier are the motives, especially the latter one.)

The M&A activity appears to already be having a positive impact on shares of smaller resource companies, which have generally been the targets.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index .SPCDNX, which tracks small-cap Canadian companies and is made up predominantly by mineral explorers, has risen 6 percent since the beginning of April, outperforming a 4.4 percent rise in the Toronto Stock Exchange's materials index .GSPTTMT, which comprises larger producers.

"I think there's some added speculative appeal to the juniors right now," said Canaccord Adams analyst Wendell Zerb.

He said recent deals have appeared to be at "fair value" levels, suggesting the sector is not undervalued. The good buys, he said, are smaller players that hold deposits with defined resources.

Earlier, the article mentions Copper Mountain, Nevada Copper, East Asia Minerals and Osisko Mining as potential targets.