This is my third article in about a week on the importance of retail investors in junior mining. I didn't initially plan on writing three articles in such rapid sequence, but several events just happened to occur that keep further demonstrating my overall point.

There’s no better case study for the value of retail investors than what just happened at Sokoman Minerals ($SIC).

Back on September 26, Sokoman closed at $0.055. Before the opening bell on Monday September 29th, Sokoman announced that Denis Laviolette was taking over as CEO and Greg Matheson as VP of Exploration.  Between September 29th and October 8th, the stock exploded up to $0.245. That’s a clean 4x in nine trading days.

Then came the punchline: a $24 million bought deal financing, split between $10M in hard dollars at $0.19 and $14M in flow-through shares at $0.265.

The Retail Effect in Hard Numbers

Before retail rediscovered Sokoman, the company’s market cap barely justified a small raise. Had they tried to raise that same $24M while the stock sat at $0.055, they would have been forced to price under $0.05—maybe $0.04 or $0.045 for hard dollars and $0.065 or $0.07 for flow-through.

Do the math:

  • At $0.045, a $10M raise means about 222 million new shares.

  • Add ~215 million flow-through shares at $0.065, and you’re north of 430 million new shares total.

That’s four times more dilution than what shareholders now face.

Instead, thanks to retail-driven enthusiasm that multiplied the share price, Sokoman raised the same $24M with just 106 million new shares. Painful, sure - but far better than the 129% dilution they’d be staring down otherwise.

Engagement Isn’t Fluff, It’s Leverage

That’s the part too many execs miss. Retail may be messy at times, but it isn’t just noise on message boards. Retail creates price elasticity. And elasticity determines how much equity your company gives away when the institutions finally show up.

You can either act “above” retail and fund your company by handing out half the shop in cheap paper… Or you can do what Laviolette did: spark genuine enthusiasm, build connection, and raise capital at a valuation that actually rewards believers.  (I also have give a shout out to @Allan Barry Laboucan for sounding the trumpet on Sokoman from the get-go.  As a side note, I highly recommend checking out Allan’s RockandStocks show on YouTube, if you are not already subscribed.  He can be a bit goofy at times in a way that cracks me up, but it is easily some of the highest quality and informative content in this sector.)

The “Unprofessional” Advantage

Back to Sokoman and Denis, here’s the part that really makes me laugh. When Denis posts on ceo.ca, he’s not hiding behind polished PR. He drops memes & gifs. The language can get rough. Sometimes he even mixes it up with the haters and trolls. On his CrashLabs Podcast, you’ll frequently hear f-bombs right alongside talk of drill results and exploration strategy.  The podcast can even get a little bit of a frat house feel to it at times (i.e. the recent discussion around Wallbridge Mining). 

And sure, a few folks clutch their pearls and call it “unprofessional” or say it is unbecoming of an executive of a public company.

But if being unprofessional means energizing a retail base so effectively that a company can fund its exploration without diluting existing shareholders into oblivion - then I am thinking maybe we need more unprofessional CEOs.

The Simple Formula

Retail attention → Higher share price → Lower dilution → Stronger company.

It’s not complicated. It’s just rarely executed.

This week, Sokoman’s raise didn’t just fund drilling. It also proved that investor engagement has direct financial value.Every CEO who dismisses retail as a distraction should print the $SIC chart and pin it above their desk.

While institutions write the big checks, retail sets the table.  And sometimes retail saves the company from being the main course.