Last year, for the first time in a decade, there wasn’t a single financing above C$125 million on the TSX Venture Exchange, where many junior mining exploration companies are listed. Deals at the C$200 million level had previously been fairly common, Jeff Killeen, policy and program director for PDAC, said in an interview.
“The juniors, particularly those outside of the critical mineral sphere, are facing more hurdles in terms of accessing capital,” Killeen said. “When they’re accessing it, there’s just smaller deals being done.”
Total financing on the TSX Venture has fallen for three years running, with the exchange falling far behind the main board in equity raised for the first time since 2017. Last year, the gap between the two grew to C$1.1 billion. With risk capital suffering overall though, junior miners actually “punched above their weight,” accounting for three quarters of all funds raised on the Venture…
