I think the more operative phrase is ... juniors are dead - FOR NOW.

2 real problems face juniors right now ... Access to cash and deflated commodity prices.

Until demand for commodities increases and producers decide they need to (and can afford to) invest in future production, juniors will wallow. gold exploration juniors may act differently in the near term but only those that have proven resources AND cash.

All is not lost OSK has been able to raise $350 million in markets like this. Even CMM has been creative and has raised capital through the pre-sale of gold from it's mine over the next 5 years. Time will tell if that works for them.

With the exception of companies like OSK, most juniors are conserving cash and therefore slowing exploration which is not conducive to bull markets in exploration companies. This is a time when those that can conserve the most efficiently will survive and the rest will fail. A lot more juniors will fail before (need to fail) before the viable projects get attention again.

I would suggest that the junior exploration playing field will look a lot different in the next 18-24 months.