Aside from the recent takeovers of Aurelian by Kinross and Gold Eagle Mines by Goldcorp, the majors have been conspicuously silent on the junior takeover front. There have been several articles recently published indicating they have intense interest in expanding their resources through acquisitions as bluegold posted early today, however there does not seem to be any sense of urgency, at least not openly.

Surely behind the scenes the majors are closely monitoring the projects they view as feasible and will soon have to begin selectively making bids on. Like many others my fear is also that the prolonged down trend witnessed in the junior sector has put many of the juniors over a barrel making it more likely they will be forced accept a take over bid that would be considered preposterous only a couple of years ago.

Of course a break through of $1000 gold may be the catalyst needed to spark renewed interest in the junior sector and force the majors to bid up their offers. Keep in mind that $1000 gold will most likely translate into a 20 to 40% increase in market cap for the majors and equate to a $6 to $12 billion increase for a company such as Barrick, therefore making $1 to $2 billion investment on a world class deposit look like chump change.

Now consider how $1200 or $1400 gold will drastically inflate the treasury of the majors and what that means to a top quality junior that is in high demand.