TGR: Desjardins Capital reports that 26 mergers and acquisitions worth a combined $30 billion (B) took place during 20.

Quite a few of those companies that were talking last year about doing $4, $6, $8 million exploration programs-many of those programs aren't going to happen. I suspect a lot of companies are going to say, 'Let's just wait and see if next year is better.' You haven't seen many announcements. If the market gets better, which I think is going to happen, they still have a shot, but it's at buyers' terms. About 60% of the companies are going to have a hard time undertaking any significant programs this year. (GPD:TSX), nobody's really done large financings and that's going to be tough. Outside of companies with discoveries, like Kaminak Gold Corp. Companies that didn't take the opportunity to raise money last year are going to have to pull a rabbit out of their hat. What types of companies are getting financing?ĮC: The only financings I've seen in the past five months are either relatively new deals where investors have a lot of respect for management-which is a roundabout way of saying that investors figure management will figure out a way to make money regardless-or companies that have something pretty definitive with a bunch of drill holes. TGR: Many Yukon junior mining companies are starting their 2012 exploration programs after completing off-season financing on buyers' terms. In a secular bull market, generally speaking, coming out of a dip tends to be an impressive move. I'm going to feel pretty dumb if it doesn't happen. Canaccord reports that 'sector weakness in the gold equities over the last six years has typically ended with 'V'-shaped corrections to the upside.' Do you believe that's what will happen this time?ĮC: I sure hope so because I'm on the buy side, not the sell side. TGR: Stagnant gold prices are translating to equities. But as long as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke keeps saying it might happen, that's good enough. That'll help the gold price because a lot of goldbugs are riding on there being another round of quantitative easing. The other side of that equation is that the U.S.

But it's not realistic to think that they can cut their deficit and 3% off their gross domestic product year after year and realistically get any net growth. All of those countries have to deal with their debt loads. There's been more noise about the EU providing stimulus funds to offset all the government budget cuts in Europe. The currency pair trade between the euro and the dollar is going to be a big determinant to the gold price. There needs to be a return of calm to Europe for the gold price to move much higher. Are you a bull or a bear?Įric Coffin: I think the gold price is going to end the year higher, so I guess that makes me bullish, but I think of myself as agnostic. The Gold Report: Eric, the gold bears recently outnumbered the gold bulls in Bloomberg's weekly Gold Bull/Gold Bear Sentiment Survey for the fourth time in a year. In this exclusive interview, Coffin talks about the hard-hit juniors in the Yukon and why it's an area play he still believes in.Ĭompanies Mentioned: ATAC Resources Ltd. As a contrarian, all the doom and gloom tells him the market is about to pull out of its tailspin. 'Everybody thinks the world is coming to an end,' he tells The Gold Report. Eric Coffin, editor and publisher of the Hard Rock Analyst newsletter, has never heard so much negativity from investors.

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