KPMG M&A partner Greg Evans noted that 2015 had been a slow year for M&A activity, despite big deals like Independence Group’s takeover of Sirius Resources, and Evolution Mining’s merger with La Mancha Australia and acquisition of Cowal.

Evans said the mid-cap miners were both the hunters and the hunted and he tipped a lift in M&A deals, with gold, zinc and copper – commodities which had held up in Australian dollar terms – to be the focus.

“It’s cheaper to buy an asset than go out and find it,” he told the Noosa Mining Conference last week.

According to Evans, the key criteria of the companies that would be targets was quality assets and management, be in a good jurisdiction, and be undervalued.

In gold, Evans believes Dacian Gold, Gold Road Resources, Saracen Mineral Holdings and Excelsior Gold fit the criteria.

In copper, Tiger Resources and new market darling Talisman Mining, while Heron Resources, Energia Minerals, IronBark Zinc and Red River Resources were good bets.

“There’s money out there to support those transactions,” Evans said.

While commodity prices are down, access to capital for juniors is non-existent with any available money flowing through to the ASX 100 and 200.

Evans said 2015 was looking like a new low for capital raisings, both in the number and the value.

“What we might have expected – which is a lot more activity in the junior sector – hasn’t happened yet,” he said.

He tipped mergers of juniors to increase as a measure of survival, but applauded Atlas Iron for its innovative company saving cost deal.

“M&A must increase for companies to be able to access capital,” Evans said.

As seen in the latest figures from BDO, more companies than ever don’t have enough cash to survive for six months.

“As a result, new resources aren’t being found,” Evans said.

“Juniors need support to explore.”

Evans said inbound investment was set to increase due to the weak Australian dollar, with KPMG seeing renewed interest from China, Japan and Korea in the past six months.