TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – For the first time in a decade, Canada's normally bustling mining sector couldn't muster a single initial public offering (IPO) on either the TSX or TSX Venture exchange in the first quarter of this year, a survey of the Canadian IPO market by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found.

Only the real estate sector showed any signs of life in the quarter, as three IPOs from that sector made it to the TSX in the first three months of the year. All were real estate income trusts (REITs). There were only four new issues on all Canadian exchanges during the period with total proceeds of $422-million, the PwC survey showed.

"It's a classic good news/bad news story. The interest in real estate is certainly encouraging, and has been since last year. We believe there could be more to come as retail investors continue to seek yield through REITs,” national IPO services leader Dean Braunsteiner said.

By comparison, there were 13 new issues on all Canadian exchanges with a total value of $20-million in the first quarter of 2012 - 12 of them from mining companies. There were no IPOs on the TSX in the first quarter of 2012.

Normally a stalwart of the IPO market, the mining sector has registered at least two new mining issues on one of Canada's two leading exchanges for every quarter since 2003, although a single small mining issue for $250 000 was placed on the CNSX in the first quarter of this year.

PwC said Canada was considered one of the world's premier markets for new issues of equity in mining companies.

"The complete lack of activity in mining, a sector that has been a pillar of Canada's equity market, is unprecedented. The TSX Venture usually generates some activity for junior mining companies. Not so this quarter, and it's been the same with London - another major market where mining companies raise equity,” Braunsteiner said.

Braunsteiner added some mining companies had recently sought debt financing, with anecdotal evidence that private equity firms were looking to be moving into the mining sector, creating speculation that miners had turned to a new source of funding.

“However, the availability of money for the costly construction phase of new mines still remains a question mark. Given the importance of the mining industry to our equity markets, this is a trend that bears watching."