M&A is inevitable: Orefinder's Steve Stewart

While the uptick in gold has benefited most of the producers, juniors still haven't seen their share of the gains, but Stephen Stewart, CEO and director of Orefinders, believes deal-making is inevitable.

"The producers started seeing the cash flow to their bottom lines in Q3, and they've been performing well ever since. I think there will be incredible pressure to deploy that capital carefully," said Stewart. "The current narrative coming from the funds is to do dividends or re-invest the capital in their own projects."

Stewart lauds the miners for listening to their investors, but he said that there is a systematic issue that people aren't realizing: miners have been depleting their resources for five to six years.

"My thesis is that M&A is inevitable, whether it is today or tomorrow. I don't know when. It is just inevitable."

By Michael McCrae
For Kitco News

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