Naturally, this is good news for gold companies. Yet, for many of them, the results have not been as impressive. The stocks of a great deal of gold miners have not mirrored the surges in the metal’s price, especially in the case of juniors. “This is the biggest disconnect I have seen in over 20 years, worse than 2008. Metal prices are high, yet investors are capitulating,” says the CEO of Dakota Gold Corp., Jonathan Awde. One major reason for this is that, in the past 15 years, bull runs in the industry have not been sustained enough to impact stocks. Major investors are therefore more cautious to lock their money in mining companies.

This caution is compounded by the changing investment landscape, where accessibility to passive products such as ETFs and indexes has redirected capital away from mining stocks. The advent of crypto and the continuous bull runs of instruments like the S&P 500 have exacerbated that trend. Mining companies, therefore, have had to adapt. Looking for the right kind of M&As to boost investor confidence has been key for some. “Our team decided to buy an asset in production instead of going through the long process from exploration through development, permitting, and construction. This strategy allowed us to avoid the slow, monotonous cycle that can take 10 to 20 years. Companies that are in production but cannot find more gold at their current operations have to continuously invest in exploration or turn to M&As,” illustrates Ryan King from Calibre Mining. His company has thus successfully attracted a suite of investors. Calibre is also changing its marketing strategy, targeting retail investors. As King puts it, “The major difference today is that almost everyone has access to online banking and trading accounts. This means that individuals now manage their investments, relying on their own research rather than solely on investment advisors. This shift means that publicly traded companies must adapt their marketing strategies.”

At any rate, many are confident that the current gold rally will make a difference soon, especially as companies report higher cash flows due to elevated prices. Their expectations are further heightened by the fact that gold prices hit all-time highs during significant interest rate increases. “I predict that the gold price will easily hit $3,000 by the end of 2024,” Ewan Downie, the CEO of i-80 Gold said in June, projecting that the ongoing interest rates cuts will push the metal’s price even further.