Video: Cupel Advisory director flags M&A surge, industry image crisis as key trends

A new wave of mergers and acquisitions is rising in the mining sector and single-asset companies might be the first to sell out, Cupel Advisory director Nikki Adshead-Bell says.

“We are starting to see M&A heat up and I think that race towards acquiring will just continue at a faster and faster pace,” she told The Northern Miner at the Mining Investment Event of the North in Quebec City. “The next 18 months, you’re probably going to see most single-asset producers be combined.”

At the same time, investor focus is bound to shift toward undervalued developers, she predicted.

These companies, which have struggled even with high commodity prices, are in what Adshead-Bell calls the “Lassonde trough” — a space between exploration excitement and production, where investor interest often declines. “They will go up, they always do,” she said, pointing to M&A-driven demand and a broader return of risk capital as key triggers.

Adshead-Bell’s comments underscore a bigger shift in mining markets. The sector is facing prolonged underinvestment, less copper output and higher gold prices.

While producers and discovery-stage juniors have enjoyed higher equity valuations, developers are still stuck. Adshead-Bell says this is partly due to how mining companies handle investor expectations. It’s also because the industry still faces a poor public image.

“Our biggest challenge is one of reputation,” she said. “Capital goes where it’s wanted and in the mining sector there’s still a lot of negative baggage.”

Watch below the full interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.