Source: Mining Weekly                               Date: 29 September, 2011

Another wave of mergers and acquisitions in the gold mining sector is expected, but tapping the same sources may not bear great rewards for much longer.Although there is uncertainty in the markets, it would be no surprise to see majors exploiting the low valuations of gold they overlooked in the last crisis. Gold prices plunged by over USD 100 per ounce last week. If gold is experiencing a minor setback as it did in 2008 from a wave a pessimisms, companies could see tremendous rewards if they act now.“I've had a number of these bigger companies say privately to me that they really made a mistake in 2008 and 2009,” said Dahlman Rose analyst Adam Graf. “In the midst of the financial crisis, most of the juniors were trading at extremely low valuations and they had a great opportunity to buy tremendous assets and instead they just froze and didn't know what to do.”A number of firms from around the world are showing similar predictions for growth over the next few years, but come to a dead halt after 2016 as mines go dry. Exploration and new investment seems to be the best opportunity.