Struggling Aussie miners turn to medical marijuana

[stockGURU]

Suffering Australian miners look to capitalise on ‘pot boom’
Jamie Smyth in Sydney

A downturn in the resources industry has prompted a growing number of struggling Australian miners to switch their focus to the booming medicinal marijuana market in an effort to stimulate investor interest.

At least three resources companies are aiming to raise money on the Australian Securities Exchange in the coming weeks, swapping mechanical diggers for hemp growhouses.

The moves follow the flotation of Phytotech Medical, a Perth-based company that raised A$4m (US$3.13m) in January to become Australia’s first listed marijuana stock.

More: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2fea712c-fea4-11e4-8efb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3b8dHS1ua

Is the medical marijuana industry in 2015 what internet startups were in the late 1990s? Does anyone know anything about the long term viability of these medical marijuana businesses or is it just a lot of hype and smoke and mirrors?

The three mining companies mentioned in the article are International Goldfields (IGS), Capital Mining (CMY) and Erin Resources (ERI).

 

[Smurf1976]

I'm always wary when a company enters a radically different business.

It's one thing for, say, a coal mining company to get into the mining of iron ore since they already have experience with mining and movement of bulk materials so just need to adapt to the differences.

But when a mining company wants to grow pot then that's a good time to be worried in my view. It becomes a case of a company looking to run a business, any business, and just jumping on whatever they think might work rather than having an actual plan based on a specific industry or at least somewhat related activities.