The PAI, set at a starting point of 100 for May 2008, bottomed at less than 50 in April 2009, and then increased to almost 90 by the end of the year. The PAI for gold activity was at 133 at the end of the year, a sharp rise from 95 in October and a historical high for the twenty months covered by the MEG Industry Monitor. The Base Metals Index was just a point short of 60, a threshold approached several times but not broken through since December 2008.

The market capitalizations of the almost 2,500 companies MEG covers reached an aggregate $1.61 trillion on December 31, 2009—more than twice the aggregate value of the industry just a year ago, but still well below the $2.05 trillion recorded at the end of May 2008.

The increase in the Pipeline Activity Index has been led primarily by the growth of significant financings by junior and intermediate companies to recent historical highs, tracking the soaring gold price and the strong copper price. While equity accounts for the greatest proportion of money raised, the proportion raised through debt jumped in the November-December 2009 period.

At the end of the year, significant gold drill results announcements were back to the peak levels of late 2008, with Australia—specifically Western Australia—the leading area. Base metals drill results announcements were still at only half of mid- to late-2008 levels.

The number of initial resource announcements, which had been on a downtrend since mid-2008, turned up slightly at the end of the year thanks to a jump in the number of new small gold resources.

Base metals work is currently focused on established later-stage projects. Although the value of resources in late-stage projects advancing through major milestones was evenly split between gold and base metals at the end of the year, the aggregate value of resources in these advancing projects fell over the last quarter as small projects dominated.