Close to the Top in Mining?

From today's Journal:

"Now, after several years of hefty profits, shareholders are pressuring mining companies to show they have projects in the pipeline to sustain growth over the next decade.

At the same time, banks and other providers of capital are becoming more comfortable financing mining ventures, including higher-risk projects developed by lesser-known "junior" companies. These include outfits like Nautilus Minerals Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia, company that said it has raised $300 million for a project to mine gold and copper from the ocean floor near Papua New Guinea, with backing from several major mining houses.

"It almost seems at the moment, if you have a piece of paper that has an outline for a project, you can" get money, said Mark Tyler, head of mining and resources at Nedbank Group Ltd., a South African bank.