Junior Mine: Review of the trends in the AIM industry - 2008

Welcome to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ fourth annual report on the UK listed junior mining industry – junior mine*.

This review provides an insight into the aggregated performance of the junior mining industry, as represented by 50 of the largest mining companies on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).  The mining companies included in the report represent over 85% of the AIM mining industry by market capitalisation, and so junior mine* provides a good indicator of the health of the UK’s junior mining industry.

Key findings of this report include:

• 81% increase in revenue as a result of higher commodity prices
• A fall in profitability in production companies for the first time since we began junior mine*
• A reported a pre-tax profit of US$50million, down from the prior year’s US$135 million
• A fall in dividends by 55% from last year
• US$2,453 million was raised from financing activities, up 82% from the prior year
• A 62% rise to US$1,951 million in the aggregated cash balance

We hope they find our analysis and insight both valuable and thought provoking.