Ongoing mergers have left the industry dominated by numerous large companies with property development criteria that most projects cannot meet. Additionally, the low gold prices that persisted for several years created a serious shortage of experienced exploration staff. Large companies are finding it easier to acquire smaller firms with large reserves rather than through exploration. This situation, coupled with the continuing depletion of reserves in existing mines, in our opinion, should create commodity shortages and high prices for many years to come.
Much of the exploration in the industry is dominated by underfinanced "ore finders", who typically lack funding and business partners necessary to develop deposits which they find. The recent consolidations have made their problems at every stage much more severe. AGI has been establishing partnerships with these ore finders, while conducting exploration and evaluation based on its own expertise. AGI's strategy is to first identify the best of these projects by a method of evaluation. Based on results, an exploration and development plan would then be developed to fit within the overall strategic business plan.
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