While consolidation among the large-cap mining groups has grabbed all the recent headlines, the junior miners on Aim have motored ahead relatively unnoticed. The miners have been the best performing sector on the main market over the past three years and this success has been mirrored on Aim. The Mining EYe index of the top 20 Aim miners - which is produced by the corporate finance team at Ernst & Young - rose by an impressive 33pc in the year to date.