'Boring' gold giants struggle to compete with hot battery metals

The dearth of M&A is indicative of lack of growth presented by gold companies

Gold producers are doing everything they’re supposed to be doing — squeezing more profit out of mines, penny-pinching on projects and resisting the kind of big deals that got them into trouble when prices fell.

While that is satisfying their large institutional shareholders, it’s not enough to lure more general investors drawn to flashier electric-vehicle commodities, as well as to stocks riding the marijuana and cryptocurrency booms.

Large producers such as Barrick Gold and Goldcorp surged in 2016 as they emerged from a multi-year downturn. Since then, they’ve largely decoupled from bullion, which has continued to rise, and are trading at the