There is a limited amount of capital in Australia for Exploration and Mining, and that capital is "Hot Capital" in that it moves very quickly and is always searching for the latest hot thing. When it comes to investing in Mining Infrastructure and Development it is not prepared to wait. Therefore junior companies with good projects either die on the vine for lack of funding or interest. In the case of ARU which I discovered 30 years ago and is a true world class deposit it still does not have its first hole in the ground.
The Gold sector is easier to fund as in most cases it is just dig it up and sell while other resources struggle to develop off take agreements and end user relationships based on some understanding that there may be a mine and process plant in the future and this does not fit the business models of manufactures and end users as they require a 100% guarantee of raw materials.
Until either large sources of stable capital or the Government are prepared to fund processing infrastructure the mining industry in Australia will struggle and be dominated by those companies with large free cash flows or supported on a stable basis by private equity which has invested for long future stable returns.
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