COMMENTARY – ProspectingJournal.com – What’s in a name? For some executives, the name and logo is merely a placeholder for their companies’ project portfolio, and an identifier on their business card. But for others, the name means everything, and in order to draw the right audience to their brand, they’re willing to go through the rigours of swaying their shareholders into voting for a name change and starting fresh with a new moniker. In the world of junior mining, this process has taken on a silver hue, as of late, as multiple companies are latching themselves to the lure of the devil’s metal, and injecting the word “Silver” into their re-brandings.
Earlier this year, as silver was on its parabolic climb towards $50/oz, a search began among investors clamoring to attach themselves to companies willing to identify themselves as the elusive primary silver miners. Some of the bigger players were already on the silver train, catching the eyes of silver bugs with notable names such as Great Panther Silver [GPR - TSX] (rebranded from Great Panther Resources in 2009) and Arian Silver Corp. [AGQ - TSX.V], both if which focus on their operations in the famous Mexican silver belt and South American Silver Corp. [SAC - TSX] which has made a name for itself through its silver projects in Bolivia and Chile. For these companies, having silver in the title proved beneficial during the metal's run earlier this year.
But, without proper research, novice investors could easily miss out on companies like Alexco Resource Corp. [AXR – TSX] and the company formerly known as United Mining Group. By doing so, one would miss out on half of the silver mining industry, bypassing two of the more experienced and devoted silver miners operating in North America. But for the latter, this no longer poses a problem.
The team at United Mining Group has recently gone through two major identity shifts, starting with a name change to United Silver Corp. [USC – TSX] and a new Interim President and CEO in Graham “Chip” Clark, a former Senior VP for mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. [NMC – TSX].
"We felt it was important to align the Company's identity with our targeted silver resources as we continue our exploration and development efforts toward bringing the Crescent Silver Mine back into production," stated former CEO of United Mining Group and current Director of United Silver Corp. Charles Pitcher upon the announcement of the name change back in June.
But UMG’s transformation into United Silver Corp. isn’t the only group adding silver to its nametags...
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