In the last day or so, gold has given back some of the froth at the top of its multi-month streak of continuous gains, but for the mining sector that doesn’t matter now. The money’s already in, and the sector’s once again enjoying the good times. US$6.7 billion in new equity finance came into the gold sector in the third quarter of 2025 and, never mind that there’s been a retracement from US$4,300 an ounce, you can bet there’ll be a lot more coming in in the fourth quarter too

Partly, this is the result of the virtuous circle that the high gold price has set up. Since most of the costs involved with mining are sunk, any increase in the gold price tends to go straight to the bottom line. Or, to put it another way, into dividends. The handsomer the dividends are, or are likely to be, the more likely equity investors are going to want a piece of the action. 

No real surprise, then, at that US$6.7 billion number.

Even so, it’s still worth remarking on just how big it really is. In the second quarter of the year, the gold mining sector raised US$2.6 billion, at a time when gold was trading at what was then considered the very attractive price of US$3,200 or so. And that second quarter figure was the highest quarterly figure for several years.

We are hitting the big leagues once more, although before we get too involved in the party, it’s worth noting that big chunks of the new money in the gold sector was raised by non-Western companies – notably Zijin, Shandong and Indonesia’s Merdeka. 

That doesn’t mean some of that money won’t end up coming west, though. The Chinese haven’t been shy about bidding on Western assets in the past, and flush with new cash, no doubt they’ll come around again. 

Meanwhile, the coffers of the great Canadian and Australian gold miners continue to fill up, to the delight of shareholders, and to the eventual likely benefit of the smaller exploration companies who will provide these cash-rich companies with their next big mines. 

It’s no wonder then, that the sector as a whole is trending up, and that it’s not just the producers but also the explorers who are benefitting. And in this kind of environment it won’t just be the bonanza discoveries that get rewarded – smaller style deposits are more than likely to be economic at current prices. That’s why shares in companies that have been actively exploring and drilling, like Mila Resources (MILA) and GEO Exploration (GEO), have been trending upwards of late. 

Some juniors are doing better than others of course, and as the gold price fell away from its astonishing high of over US$4,300, investors did sell. But it may well be that the share price dips that followed represent the one of the best buying opportunities that will present itself in a time of ongoing strength. It was interesting too, that the juniors suffered more from the pull-back in the gold price than the established producers. Oracle Power (ORCP), which is exploring in Australia, GEO, also looking in Australia, and Kavango (KAV) all lost ground and are now significantly cheaper than they were this time last week, in a world where the gold price is still above US$4,000 an ounce. 

In the case of Kavango, there was an additional factor, as news broke that entrepreneurial chief executive Ben Turney was leaving the company. 

But the contrast further up the ladder was plain. Greatland Gold (GGP) was broadly flat, Caledonia (CMCL) slipped by just 2%, and Pan African (PAF) by less than 1.5%. As ever, the most speculative money, therefore, is the most nervous. 

ECR Minerals (ECR), though, newly funded to develop an alluvial opportunity in Australia was flat, and Wishbone Gold (WSBN ) which is exploring not a million miles away from Greatland actually rose by just over a percent. 

So will there be more to come from this market? You’d better believe it. Only time will tell us whether the US$4,300 gold price we’ve just witnessed will be reached again, but at these levels the crucial issue isn’t the day-to-day price of gold, but the huge amounts of new money that is coming into the sector. 

So, while shareholders in Oracle, Mila and Kavango may be worse off one day and better off the next, the longer-term outlook is favourable. Still, it’s worth remembering that a rosy economic backdrop can only go so far. At the end of the day there are only really two factors that count: the quality of the asset, and the quality of the people.