Defending against a potential take over makes sense but this doesn't explain the lack of institutional owners. There are a lot of small cap funds, resource funds and precious metals funds managing a lot of money, that operate in Canada that look to build positions in companys just like SLI. Sometimes they meet with management and sometimes they don't. They do their due diligence and then decide to start to build a position or not.

Some of these funds have restrictions regarding how far along a company is in their exploration, eg. permits, drilling etc. But I know for a fact a lot do not have these restrictions. It is completely up to the portfolio management team to use their discretion.

With all this potential that it looks like we have, I would just feel a lot more comfortable if we noticed some of the smart money (institutions) building positions.

And trust me, its not because these big guys aren't aware of us. These funds have teams of analysts scouring the entire Canadian marketplace for anything with potential.