New investments completed during the year included equity purchases of Gungnir Resources Inc. (TSX-V: GUG), Marimaca Copper Corp. (TSX: MARI), Callinex Mines Inc. (TSX-V: CNX), Lara Exploration Ltd. (TSX-V: LRA), and Archer Exploration Corp. (CSE: RCHR). Altius also increased its equity exposure to several existing investments including Orogen Royalties Inc. (TSX-V: OGN) (“Orogen”), Adventus Mining Corp. (TSX-V: ADZN) (“Adventus”), AbraSilver Resource Corp. (TSX-V: ABRA) (“AbraSilver”) and Wolfden Resources Corp. (TSX-V: WLF) (“Wolfden”).
In 2022, an estimated 320,000 metres of drilling was completed across projects in which Altius has royalty and/or equity exposure.
Brian Dalton, Altius’ President and CEO commented, “2022 was a challenging year in terms of equity valuations and capital access for most junior explorers and/or developers and this was reflected in our portfolio performance - albeit to a lesser degree than the broader junior market. This weakness also presented opportunities, however, and we were net investors as a result. We remain bullish that the long-term supply-demand imbalance facing most mined commodities has been exacerbated by the weaker investment and sentiment conditions experienced during the year and we believe that the value of quality projects and explorers will better reflect this in future periods.”