Look at how Altius has made money in the past. It wasn't from investing in juniors. It was from:
A- Buying royalties instead of equity. Look at all the people who have made personal fortunes in mining. Teck is one of the rare cases where somebody (Norman Keevil) made a fortune from from equity. Whereas Lassonde, Schulich, and Dalton made a lot of money from royalties. The problem with equity is that the equityholders in mines regularly do dumb things. They chase projects with low rates of returns (e.g. practically the entire gold industry), engage in empire building, have to compete with the publicly-traded miners who bid against you on acquisitions, etc. And the junior explorers (in aggregate) are huge destroyers of capital.
B- Staking land *when it was cheap*. That's why Altius is saying "bring on the bloodbath". It's because they have this huge stash of cash and they want to buy land when it is cheap. Land may not be cheap right now. Dalton was visiting China probably because he was trying to "sell" Altius' iron ore land positions through joint venture deals (these JV deals are a subtle form of selling).
This is a business where Altius cannot deploy a lot of capital but has generated obscene returns.
C- Selling shares when they were expensive, buying them back when they were cheap.
And look at what Altius has NOT done. They have largely avoided the business of exploration (exploration stocks have negative ROI in aggregate). They have largely avoided the business of developing, building, and owning mines. That's smart in my opinion as those aren't great businesses.
