TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Investment in mining projects and operations in Canada and the US are undergoing something of a renaissance, Wellington West Capital Markets analyst Paolo Lostritto said on Monday.

“There's been a resurgence in North America, in terms of investing in assets,” he said.

“And I think the reason for that is two-fold. One, you are dealing with maybe a view that political uncertainty is growing globally.

“And two, there are some really good camps in Canada and the US that have somewhat been forgotten, and now you are seeing a bit of a renaissance.”

Lostritto cited the Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Red Lake camps as examples.

There is also a lot more money going into West Africa, he said.

COST PRESSURES

Like most other analysts attending this year's Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, Lostritto flagged the issue of rising costs that are starting to creep into margins for mining companies, as things like oil, steel, labour and equipment become more expensive.

One way for investors to protect against the effects of these rising costs is to invest in royalty and streaming companies, which have fixed costs and benefit from upward movement in commodity prices, he commented.

Lostritto also said that the only way gold won't continue to follow the sharp upward curve of the bull market of the late 1970s and into the 1980s, is if central banks start behaving more "prudently".

"But if history repeats itself we've yet to go to the mania phase," he commented.

"And if history is any indication of how things are going to behave in the future, I think we are just getting this party started."

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