* Optimism returning after rough patch for the sector
* Positive indicators from U.S., China boost sentiment
* Pace of capital cost increases on projects causes concern
By Euan Rocha
TORONTO, March 2 (Reuters) – Detour Gold last
month sold C$277 million of equity to investors willing to bet
on its promising gold project – a hefty sum that bankers say the
Canadian company would have struggled to raise barely two months
earlier.
Detour’s success in raising funds is one of many small signs
that the malaise that gripped miners, explorers and investors in
late 2011 is easing. A brighter economic outlook has brought a
ray of optimism back to the global mining sector, which gathers
next week in Toronto for its biggest convention of the year.
While stresses still weigh heavily on the world financial
system, a batch of decent U.S. economic data and easing concerns
about a slowdown in China have breathed fresh life into mining
stocks that tumbled last year.
“If I compare right now to, let’s say, the latter part of
2011, generally executives are more positive now,” said Egizio
Bianchini, co-head of metals and mining at BMO Capital Markets.
“The often overused phrase ‘cautiously optimistic’ is
probably one that can be used now, and I think that’s where
people are at,” Bianchini said in an interview before the annual
Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention. The
event, known simply as PDAC, opens Sunday in Toronto.
Continued…
