It didnt start out so great, but 2009 has turned into a record year for mining financing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In a statement released Wednesday, TMX Group Inc. said that mining companies on the TSX and TSX Venture Exchange raised $17-billion in the first nine months of 2009 through 264 different financings. Sixty of those deals were worth more than $50-million each, and the exchanges had 59 new listings in that period.

There were more deals in the first nine months of 2009 than in all of 2008. This is not surprising, as mining financing essentially disappeared in the second half of 2008 after commodity prices and credit markets collapsed. Once the window for equity offerings opened up again this year, almost everyone tried to jump in.

The most notable mining deal of all came from Barrick Gold Corp., which raised US$4-billion to unwind its hedge book.

TSX representatives are in Perth, Australia today trying to drum up more new mining listings. They are promoting the fact that the TSX and the Venture are already home to 55% of the worlds public mining companies, as well as 123 international mining companies.

"International interest in our markets continues to grow with mining companies of all sizes and with investors," TSX senior vice president Ungad Chadda said in the statement.