Mining companies saw a sharp improvement in share price performance in Q4, with larger companies driving the rebound.

Mining companies experienced a dramatic improvement in share price performance in Q4 as prices of many key minerals rose, with larger firms seeing the biggest gains, according to data compiled by Mining Journal Intelligence (MJI).

MJI’s Mining Equity Report 2023 – Q4 Update showed the median average share price change of more than 2300 mining companies assessed was a 0.8% fall during the quarter – a significant improvement on the 14.8% drop in Q3 and 11.6% fall the previous quarter.

The update provides data and analysis of initial public offerings (IPOs), secondary raisings, and share price performance for publicly traded mining companies globally during the quarter, based on information sourced from PitchBook.

The Q4 improvement adds further support to expectations of a mining rebound in 2024, coming amid rises in prices of copper, iron ore, and gold, among others.

As in other quarters, larger companies performed best, with the majors (market cap of more than $5 billion) seeing a median share price rise of 14.6%.

Companies with market caps below $50 million – which accounted for more than 1700 of the 2300+ companies – saw median price falls of 6.0%.

The quarter saw a slump in the value of IPOs, but $3.0 billion of secondary raisings were announced, bringing the annual total to $15.0 billion, up from $12.1 billion in 2022.