How Junior Mining Companies Hit the Reset Button

How Junior Mining Companies Hit the Reset Button

Special thanks to Dajin Resources for sponsoring.

There is a saying in junior mining that “a rising tide floats all boats”. Basically what this implies is that when the market is doing well, all speculative companies benefit from a booming market at the same time. In other words, an investor can hold a position in any of these companies and receive a payoff.

However, what they don’t tell you is that a falling tide can make it a pretty rocky environment for even many of the best boats and navigators. In this type of environment, many companies can face dire circumstances in which they may need to get creative to survive. This is analogous to our current situation where junior mining stocks have been in a bear market for over four years.

If push comes to shove and a company’s situation becomes troubling enough, one answer is to hit the “reset” button. Management teams that cannot raise money may use this type of solution to rejig their share structure, pay off debt obligations, and eventually reposition their company to raise money again.

How does this work? First, the troubled company would roll back the stock such that multiple shares would be exchanged for one new share (for example, a 6:1 rollback would mean 6 old shares are turned into 1 new share). Note that such a rollback also changes the stock price by the same ratio, so a $0.01 stock would then be trading at $0.06.

Then, the company would issue new stock to settle any debt that is on the books and then raise money again. Ultimately, in order to be successful at any of this, the company needs to also shift their direction in some meaningful way. Changing the management team, switching focuses, or acquiring a new project may be ways to give a company new life.

While it is never fun to admit defeat for management teams or investors, ultimately this “reset” button is something that is a unique part of this sector and for good reason. It gives a clean slate, and creates a share structure and situation which can possibly be turned around.