The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition mining-merger activity has defied the doubters, returning to prominence in 2014. The Post's Peter Koven writes after an extremely slow 2013, the expectations for mergers and acquisitions were muted going into this year. There have been 41 mining deals so far this year worth $7.1-billion. By comparison, there were just $9.3-billion of deals in all of 2013. Most notably, there has been an impressive number of large and medium-sized takeovers, including those of Osisko Mining Corp. ($3.7-billion), Augusta Resource Corp. ($555-million), Lumina Copper Corp. ($470-million), and Sulliden Gold Corp. Ltd. ($300-million). Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp. were negotiating a potential $13-billion (U.S.) tie-up when talks collapsed in April. The pace and size of deals are still far below peak years like 2010, when there were 191 transactions worth almost $40-billion. The sector needs more consolidation. The hostile bid for Osisko in January got people looking at M&A again. Kevin Thomson at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP said his phone started ringing shortly after that. "The demand for quality assets is absolutely still there," he said.