Larger mining companies don’t usually spend money on exploration unless it’s on a property it already owns. There’s much less risk in buying a junior that’s already made a substantial discovery and has done a lot of drilling on that project. Some bigger miners will take a significant ownership stake in an exploration company, though, if they think the project has merit and is located near one of its existing operations. This might lead to a buyout sometime in the future, which is what the shareholders of the juniors on our list today are likely hoping will happen.
St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited (TSX: SAU)
The company is developing theKing-king Copper-Gold Project located in the Philippines, which is expected to recover 3.16B lbs. of copper and 5.43M oz. of gold over its 25 year mine and process life. B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) owns 9.29% of St Augustine, while Russell Mining & Minerals Inc. has 16.4% stake, and Queensberry Mining and Development Corp. has a 40% ownership interest.
Lundin Gold Inc. (TSXV: LUG)
Lundin acquired the Fruta del Norte gold project in Ecuador in December 2014, which has shown to contain 7.26 million Indicated ounces of gold at 9.59 g/t and 2.55 million Inferred gold ounces at 5.46 g/t. Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX: K) owns 25.9% of the company and the wealthy Lundin family have a 31.3% stake.
Galane Gold Ltd. (TSXV: GG)
Galaneis mining gold from its Mupane project in Botswana. Its all-in operating cash costs were US$1,270 per ounce in its latest reported quarter (Q1, 2015). IAMGOLD Corp. (TSX: IMG) owns 41.41% of the company.
Orvana Minerals Corp. (TSX: ORV)
The company has producing gold-copper mines in Spain and Bolivia with all-in sustaining costs of US$1080 per gold-equivalent ounce. Fabulosa Mines, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minera S.A, owns a 51.9% interest in Orvana.
Maritime Resources Corp. (TSX: MAE)
Maritime Resources holds 100% of the Green Bay property in Newfoundland and Labrador, which hosts the past producing Hammerdown gold mine. Hammerdown was operated by Richmont Mines between 2000 and 2004, where a total of 291,400 tonnes of ore was mined and milled at an average grade of 15.83 g/t gold. Commander Resources Ltd. (TSXV: CMD) owns 26.3% of Maritime, while Rambler Metals & Mining PLC (TSXV: RAB) has a 17.8% stake.
