The pricing of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) is an area of interest to practitioners and academics alike given the empirical regularity of investors in IPOs making very large first day returns. These first day returns are as a result of share underpricing. Academics have explained the underpricing phenomenon in terms of ex ante uncertainty, namely the risk of pricing, off take and issuing of such shares. In an attempt to predict the degree of the phenomenon much work has been done in linking underpricing to company, issue and market related factors that are known prior to the listing (ex ante as opposed to ex post information). In the case of junior mining companies, underpricing is exacerbated by a lack of financial information making these issues difficult to value since such unseasoned companies have no past earnings history on which to base predictions of future earnings. Given this context, this study identified relevant factors from secondary sources which could be used to proxy the level of ex ante uncertainty and therefore correlate with the degree of underpricing. The analysis firstly sought to ensure that underpricing exists for the issues, market and time period of interest. Secondly the presence of a “hot issue” period (Ritter, 1984), which is exclusive to the natural resources sector, was investigated. Finally the relationship between underpricing and the relevant factors was explored using hypothesis testing about means and regression analysis. It was found that underpricing does indeed exist for junior mining listings on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) between 2005-2007. This said no evidence of the “hot issue” period could be found. In terms of linking company, issue and market related factors to the degree of underpricing this study failed to identify any significant predictors. It is argued that junior mining listings on the TSX-V may be a special case since some of these factors have successfully been used, by other researchers, to predict the degree of underpricing of mining IPOs. The fact that junior mining IPO’s listed on the TSX-V show a constant degree of underpricing over time implies that investors do not build market specific factors (market sentiment and commodity price) into the listing price. Rather investors seem to demand a constant degree of underpricing regardless of the market situation to compensate them for the “unknown” exploration risk. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The author makes an analysis of the measures to be taken into account to promote mining activities, with special emphasis in the area of exploration as the main activity in the mining industry. Therefore, the present article focuses on everything that made such activity from its main actors to the considerations to take into account in its regulation and the effectiveness of it. Finally the author presents his conclusions focusing on the importance of generating investment and therefore expedition to implement the best mechanisms in the mining sector. / El autor hace un análisis acerca de las medidas a tomar en cuenta para promover las actividades mineras, poniendo especial énfasis en el área de la exploración como actividad principal de la industria minera. De tal forma, que el presente artículo se centra en todo aquello que compone dicha actividad, desde sus principales actores hasta las consideraciones a tomar en cuenta para su regulación y la eficacia de la misma. Finalmente el autor expone sus conclusiones centrándose en la importancia que genera la inversión y por tanto la expedición para implementar los mejores mecanismos en el rubro minero.

Drawing on experience as a communications consultant to the junior mining industry, this research emerged from my observations that anti-mining, non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns are currently winning the public relations war against the mining industry. Increasing global awareness and anti-mining sentiment may be due in part to a lack of communication on behalf of mining companies with respect to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and specifically community investment activities in developing countries. I sought to investigate what community investment initiatives a sample of Canadian junior exploration companies are conducting and the root causes for a possible CSR communication gap or “reporting silence” in this regard, which, if remedied, could potentially help balance this negative publicity. Results from interviews with mining company executives, industry CSR practitioners, and investment fund managers identified a number of factors contributing to a community investment communication gap, and reflect upon the multiplicity of stakeholder audiences with complex and divergent information needs. My thesis concludes with recommendations as to how junior exploration companies and industry CSR practitioners might consider community investment in developing countries through a complexity science lens to explore collaborative solutions in addressing these communication gaps.