"Private equity, strategic and royalty companies have replaced the institutional investor in supporting the mining sector, the panelists observed."

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-fast-news?oid=261646&sn=Detail

I have to disagree. Alternative sources of capital remain elusive for miners, and for explorers in particular. Perhaps a better way to have said that would have been, "Private equity, strategic and royalty companies are in the process of replacing the institutional investor in supporting the mining sector..."

This goes back to when new rules were put into effect in the aftermath of the "Financial Crisis", which essentially prohibited most regulated financial institutions from "speculating?" in mining, no matter that some had been doing so quite successfully forever.

Since then, alternative sources of funds for exploration and development have been slowly evolving, but quite seriously lagging demand. It should be interesting for us to note that among the pioneers in this effort are companies like Naru Capital and LBSR.

Meanwhile, "speculative" interest in mining is recovering, albeit slowly, and banking regulations are losening. So who knows what the future will bring?

On another subject, oil prices are down again this morning. ...means lower operating costs for miners.

VP in AZ, on a slow morning