Toronto’s claim as the world’s top mining hub is under threat as exploration companies leave Canada and listings dwindle on the nation’s resource-heavy stock exchange.
Canada’s once-thriving mining industry is facing challenges to its decades-old model, in which explorers and developers woo investors with promises of mining breakthroughs and established producers feed on their success, swallowing them in lucrative takeovers. Industry consolidation has reduced head offices and eliminated listings, companies find it harder to attract investors, and government rules on foreign investment have become more restrictive.
“The industry that has fueled most of the great Canadian minerals discoveries over the past 50 years is but a skeleton of itself,” said mining financier Pierre Lassonde, who co-founded Franco-Nevada Corp. “We should be extremely concerned.”
Three small firms shut their…
