MAJORS - New Trend NEWCREST- [MEDIA] "Newcrest has secured an...

MAJORS - New Trend

NEWCREST-


"Newcrest has secured an option to earn up to 75% in Rattlesnake Hills project in Wyoming from GFG Resources."  16 hrs ago, 12 Sep 2018

NEWMONT-


"World*s 2nd largest gold producer acquired   19.9%  of Canadian gold junior Orosur Mining which recently closed operations in Uruguay & Chile to focus on Colombia."
{In the embedded article by Mining.com, Newmont has also take stakes in 2 other Canadian co*s exploring near Orosur in Colombia. As for Orosur, the deal has 3 phase earn-ins up to 75% by spending $30m in qualifying expenditure over 12 years. It also goes up to 80% etc."

"Orosur: We look forward to re-commencing EXPLORATION EFFORTS at Anza shortly..."

Orosur is listed in London with a market cap of £6m. [See debt position].


Comment:
We have seen the mega bids of the past by the majors. Then the downturn came and the majors spent their time repairing their balance sheets.

Recently, the majors have taken exploration licences themselves eg in Ecuador {BHP etc}.

Now, the majors are investing in mining juniors to take a stake in early stage exploration projects. In the case of Orosur, Newmont took  a 19.9% stake at a 229% pre-deal premium at 5.4 British pence.

One can see that it is easier to take a larger stake eg 19.9% at the early stage at very low mkt caps.

So, there is a change in the direction of majors.

BHP


Mr Andrew MacKenzie gave an interview to the Financial Times.
Quote: "While Mr MacKenzie would like to ADD more COPPER & offshore oil, he said this was more likely to come through exploration rather than deal making."

"More recently, BHP  bought a 6.1% stake in a junior miner called SolGold, WHOSE PRIZE exploration asset is in Ecuador, which could be the WORLD*S NEXT COPPER FRONTIER."  - Sep 11, 2018.

NEW ARTICLE:
"BHP acquires stake in Solgold."-Northern Miner, 3 hrs ago, Wed 12 Sep 2018