You are invited to the Wednesday, February 25 meeting (at 4:15 pm) of the Discussion Group of CIM’s Management and Economics Society, in Toronto, for a presentation by:

Benjamin Cox

Oreninc, Founder & Managing Director

entitled:

State of the Junior Exploration Ecosystem

Benjamin Cox will explain the current state of the junior exploration ecosystem and discuss specific partnership models that are working within the industry, partnership models and outdated practices that are not working, and certain changes that should be made to transform these relationships for a more effective market..

Mr. Cox will begin by providing a general overview, quantifiably showing the quarter-over-quarter trends in the junior financing space and highlighting the reasons why junior companies struggle to raise funds in the capital markets (e.g. no retail investors left, the cost of capital). Next, he will share his expertise on exploration targets and the disconnect between discoveries that are economic and discoveries that are money pits. (e.g. What is economic rock? How can targets be de-risked before millions are spent?) He will then shift gears and discuss the relationship between the major and mid-tier mining company and junior exploration company and what partnership models make sense from the junior’s perspective (e.g. Should a junior go public or stay private?). In this portion, Mr. Cox will talk about the short-term issues vs. long-term issues. Finally, Mr. Cox will share his views on certain changes that should occur in each of the models and structures previously discussed for an overall market evolution.

Oreninc is a quant-focused merchant bank, specializing in the qualitative deal analysis of base and ferrous metals projects and companies. In addition, Oreninc collects and analyzes data on the natural resource financing market for their proprietary database, the Oreninc Deal Log, and publishes research to increase transparency on the health of the overall financing market.

Prior to founding Oreninc, Mr. Cox served as a senior analyst at the D.E. Shaw Group. Currently, he is Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V:BAY), a copper and zinc company with properties in Nunavut, Canada and Chief Executive Officer of Roche Bay plc, an iron ore holding company that also has leases in Nunavut, Canada. Mr. Cox is an expert on market dynamics of the metals and mining industry, with a focus on raw materials including base metals, iron ore, platinum group metals, and industrial materials such as potash and lithium. Mr. Cox holds a B.S. from Brandeis University and an M.B.A. from Portland State University.

When:

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Refreshments at 4:15pm – Presentation at 4:35pm

Location:

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Scotia Plaza, 40 King St W, 44th floor, Toronto

All are welcome to this excellent networking and learning opportunity.

Please email secretary@cim-mes.org to RSVP or to get on our mailing list for notices.

Thank you to our sponsor, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP for providing the space!