Junior Mining's Financing Taps Reopened. They Peaked in March.

Was March the top of this cycle, or a pause before the next leg?

Junior mining's financing taps reopened this year. The real question is whether they stay open.

Start with the three-year arc. 2023 and 2024 were flat, around US$17bn raised each year at the sub-$100m end of the market. 2025 turned hard: US$29.9bn, up 65%. And H1 2026 alone did US$18bn, more than either full plateau year.

But look at the shape of it. Monthly volumes peaked in March and have fallen every month since, 514 companies raising that month, down to 317 in July. Roughly 38% off the peak in four months. H1's headline number was front-loaded into the first quarter, not building through it.

Underneath the totals, the cheques got bigger. The median raise in H1 2026 was US$2.64m, up 76% on the same period last year. Fewer names writing bigger cheques looks like a flight to quality rather than a broad reopening.

On the arrangers: 2,757 companies raised over three years, and a handful of banks were involved in most of it.

Canaccord Genuity (Global Capital Markets) is well clear with 449 client companies, then Macquarie Group, Bell Potter Securities, Euroz Hartleys Limited, and Sprott.

You can only catch a turn like this if you're reading it live, off the RNS and exchange feeds, not waiting on a quarterly refresh.

So: was March the top of this cycle, or a pause before the next leg?

All figures are sub-$100m raises (USD-equivalent). Arranger counts are distinct client companies where the firm is named in any billed role (lead, joint, co-manager, bookrunner, underwriter or placing agent), so they measure involvement, not sole-lead mandates. Source: Pulse Intelligence, company announcements.

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