Paul H. Stephens (University of California, Berkley photo)

Paul H. Stephens (University of California, Berkley photo)

Well before the Bay Area became a Mecca for venture capitalists, San Francisco-based asset manager Paul Stephens earned a fortune as an investor in the mining industry's petrie dish.

Paul H. Stephens may be back to his old tricks. According to recent SEDAR filings, he has increased his stake in mining prospect generator, Eurasian Minerals Inc. (C:EMX). Mr. Stephens acquired roughly 1 million shares at $0.86 bringing his Eurasian stake to 7.54 million shares or 10.27% of the company.

Mr. Stephens is the chairman of Stephens Investment Management LLC, a hedge fund and venture capital firm. He is also a director of Sprott Inc. and has co-founded and led several other successful asset management firms over the past 40 years.

As an early-backer to Robert Friedland's Diamond Fields International, an African diamond explorer turned discoverer of the Voiseys Bay nickel mine in Newfoundland, Mr. Stephens was a leading beneficiary of the company's $4+ billion sale to Inco in 1995.

Diamond Fields is one of those "unicorn" stories that investors love to talk about 20 years later. Canadian mining investors long for the days of 100x+ returns on a deal in just a couple of years.

Eurasian is considered a leading prospect generation firm, finding new targets for the mining industry to drill, which Eurasian usually keeps a royalty interest in. The company has over 80 projects in its portfolio, including a large copper deposit in Russia. Eurasian also has a cash flowing royalty on a gold mine operated by Newmont in Nevada which is expected to increase production in late 2015.

Mr. Stephens and his family are also active investors in bitcoin and bitcoin related venture capital companies.

Read: Paul H. Stephens Announces Acquisition of Equity Interests in Eurasian Minerals Inc.

Related: The house that Diamond Fields built.