At one point or another, everyone who invests in the junior mining sector thinks about the big buyout their company could get. You’re more likely to pick a dud than a winner, though, and that means it’s all the more important to do your due diligence before plowing into a mining stock.
The only reliable way to predict what sorts of junior silver mining stocks will get acquired is by looking at the types of companies that have gotten acquired in the past. And contrary to a common investor belief, it’s producers (companies that are already pulling silver out of the ground) – not the hotshot young explorers that have uncovered a giant deposit – that tend get acquired.
“As silver miners continue to amass healthly cash treasuries, the sector looks primed for a spate of merger and acquisition activity,” Haywood Securities wrote in a recent research report on silver mining stocks (per Mineweb). “Producer/producer-sector consolidation seems – at the moment – to be a preferred route for silver producers to add to their production growth profiles. For example, Pan American’s recent acquisition of Minefinders, First Majestic’s proposed acquisition of junior producer Silvermex Resources, and Endeavour Silver’s proposed acquisition of AuRico Gold’s El Cubo operating silver-gold mine.”
Haywood’s report almost reads like a manual for identifying mining takeover targets. Look for small and medium-sized producers that control large deposits. Why, after all, would a large mining company take a chance on acquiring a potential deposit when they can go after one that’s going to start generating income from day one?
Knowing what the majors are looking for makes our job easier. Haywood even went on the record with a list of their favorite producers in their report. Among them? Endeavour Silver (NYSE:EXK), Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) and Mandalay Resources (PINK:MNDJF).
A few we’ve identified? Scorpio Mining Corp. (PINK:SMNPF), Golden Minerals Company (AMEX:AUMN) and Great Panther Silver Ltd. (AMEX:GPL). We’ve identified several other silver producers in our new book, The Top 500 Gold and Silver Mining Stocks.
Like this post? On Saturday, we also wrote about Haywood Securities’ fascinating silver price forecasts through 2016.
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