Junior Gold Stocks

[PekenoBuda]

Junior Gold Stocks - Parte 1

Pode ser útil para aproveitarem a actual época de saldos... 

Scott Wright     December 29, 2006     2939 Words

There is no arguing that the gold-stock sector has been one of the hottest in the financial markets since the turn of the century.  The venerable HUI gold-stock index has seen a nearly 1,000% rise from trough to peak in the last six years and the stocks that comprise it have won investors and speculators legendary gains.

Within the gold-stock world though lies a sub-sector that is not represented by an index and really has no boundary on its potential.  Like an underground blood-sport event or a big-city basement casino, junior gold stocks fly under the radar and only those investors who actively seek this realm may successfully enter it.

And drawing another analogy to the aforementioned locales, gambling in the junior gold-stock world can either leave you bloody and bruised with empty pockets or reward you with spectacular gains that even Las Vegas odds-makers could not fathom.

Little known to the average investor, this gold-stock sub-sector supports capital markets that don't show up on most radars.  These stocks are so petite that you'll never see mainstream media coverage on them nor will you likely get recommendations from your broker.

But even with a limited pool of investors going after the junior gold stocks, their popularity has risen considerably in recent years.  In and even out of the typical gold circles there has been significant chatter surrounding the up and coming junior gold stocks that are expected to shoot to the moon.

For investors seeking junior gold stocks in which to speculate, the primary challenge lies in not only identifying these stocks but in discerning which ones are the good ones.  With hundreds of junior gold stocks to choose from, I decided to hunker down and seek out some of the quality junior gold companies that are positioning themselves to greatly capitalize on this gold bull going forward.

I knew this task would be arduous, but I expected that the reward potential not only for my own trading capital but that of our loyal newsletter subscribers would be well worth it.  So I spent the last few months threshing through hundreds of junior gold stocks in search of some high-probability-for-success winners.

Sometimes this adventure seemed mind-numbing as it is often difficult to dissect these companies and peel away their layers in order to get a glimpse of their cores.  But for the most part it was downright exciting.  What an exhilarating experience it was to learn about the GenXers of the gold-mining industry!

Collectively these junior golds hold the key to the future balance of the economics of gold.  Whether directly or indirectly, junior golds will greatly contribute to the supply side of the gold trade.  I can probably write a novel on my findings, but in addition to a recently published research report identifying our favorite junior gold stocks, my intent for this first of a two-part commentary on this topic is to reveal some areas of research that I found most useful in analyzing junior gold stocks.

History/Management:  When researching a junior gold stock, taking a close look at company history and its existing management team can be quite revealing.  Those companies that are strong-suited in this area will advertise their prowess.  But often you have to dig deep in such obscure resources as old prospectuses, regulatory filings, MDA reports, old press releases and perhaps even a refined online search.  God bless the internet!

You will find that some juniors have rich histories than span through the flows and ebbs of a full commodities-market cycle.  Yet others are fresh new start-ups that have emerged since today's secular gold bull took shape.  And there are even a handful of others that may have gone through name and/or management changes to either mask the past or shift their strategic direction.

If there is a history, learn what you can from it and view it objectively.  What accomplishments, if any, does a junior have on its resume?  Has the company exhibited asset growth and valuation growth?  What changes has it gone through and how has it weathered adverse market conditions?  These are just a few of the questions that should be addressed in this line of research.

Answers you may find when researching this thread will range considerably.  Some juniors only ever want to explore for gold, and are good at it.  It is not always a bad sign if a junior with a lengthy history has not yet graduated to become a gold producer.  I found that some companies have outlined business plans that mandate a divestiture at the end of a gold project.

Some juniors are great at discovery but outright avoid development and hefty project-funding risks.  They believe in increasing shareholder value by either keeping their gold in the ground or selling it to the bigger fish in order to obtain the capital to start the cycle all over again.

For every encouraging story though there are those that are a bit shady.  Some companies have been sitting on a project for decades without making significant progress.  When the markets are tight they hibernate, and when the markets are good they turn on the spotlight steering unsuspecting investors to their stagnant stories. 

As for management, experience is pivotal in the success of a junior.  Junior gold companies have little room for error in their operations and an experienced management team with a successful background is of utmost importance.  You will find that successful management teams are headed by highly-trained geologists, experienced and respected industry tradesmen or a combination of the two.

And as goes with company history, management history can be very telling when researching the junior golds.  Have members of management had past successes or failures while in decision-making positions?  Has the team or individual led successful voyages or captained sinking ships?  Are the executives industry veterans or serial promoters?

Asking these questions and more will help lead to prudent decision making.  And the answers you find may astonish you.  To give you an example, after a little digging, I discovered that some companies that looked good on the outside were actually founded or run by someone that drove previous resource expeditions into bankruptcy.  Others were run by someone with a background in the tech industry with little knowledge of resource development.  Probabilities for long-term success don't bode well for these types of companies.

Good management and a productive history radically increase the odds that a junior can blossom in a gold bull market.  Diligent research on this front can pay great dividends.

Exploration:  The title "junior gold" is synonymous with "junior explorer".  This is because the essence of junior gold stocks is exploration.  For the most part juniors do not produce gold.  Their function in the lifecycle of bringing gold to market rests in discovery, advancement and development of promising gold deposits.

The juniors that we marvel at with hopes of massive gains usually possess a project or portfolio of gold projects that are in the exploration stage.  And depending on the market capitalization of a junior, you can usually deduce in which phase it resides.

An early phase of exploration in which many juniors reside is called greenfields.  Greenfields exploration is the poke-and-find method of exploring a broad target area that has initially favorable geology with little or no evidence of mineralization.  This is probably the most important phase of exploration in the gold industry as it is ultimately responsible for its longevity.

Without greenfields exploration, global mined gold supply would dwindle in a matter of decades.  And unfortunately greenfields exploration is one of the riskier phases of exploration.  The probability that an identified gold target turns out to be a mineable deposit is very low.  And when various studies finally reveal a target to be a dud, then all the invested capital put into exploration ends up good-for-naught.  Exploration is not cheap!

Greenfields exploration is not only a vital stage for the juniors, but also the major producers.  A lot of sunk capital goes into this phase.  A sizable producer can absorb a greenfields failure, and actually plans for it since discovering gold is not the easiest thing in the world.  But a junior that has very limited capital takes on far more leveraged risk in the greenfields phase.  Many juniors become insolvent upon greenfields failure.  This is a good reason why it is so vital that experienced geologists are on the payroll of the juniors.

Positive results from mapping, surface sampling and drilling in greenfields exploration could push a project to the next phase of exploration.  This phase involves more detailed technical studies that include extensive drilling and core sampling.  Many times an independent consultancy that qualifies under various mining codes performs these studies that are formally called scoping studies.  A scoping study is usually the first step in examining the economic viability of a mineral deposit.

If a scoping study returns positive results, then a project usually gets advanced to the feasibility phase.  Feasibility studies many times begin with a less time- and capital-intensive pre-feasibility study.  This study may provide reasonably accurate yet rough project cost and operating schedule projections.  Mature miners with deeper pockets will sometimes use pre-feasibility studies to make a construction decision.

Juniors don't usually have this luxury though because the bankers that finance the bulk of a junior gold project require what are called either full, bankable or definitive feasibility studies to be performed before they risk their capital on a gold mine that is slave to the volatility of the commodities markets.

These full feasibility studies are comprehensive technical reports compiled through extensive drilling programs that reveal the true depth and breadth of a gold deposit.  This study typically provides detailed project capital costs, economic reserves, operating cost projections, mine life projections, IRR scenarios, recurring expenses, timelines and much more.

Ultimately these phases don't have defined parameters and depending on the size of the deposit can have vastly different lead times.  Some of the more extensive studies may take several years to complete especially for some of the thin-pocketed juniors that can't employ a dozen drills at a time.

Now theoretically the more advanced an exploration project is, the higher the probability that deposit may come to life.  This same logic can be used to scale market capitalization as hinted at above.  But this line isn't always followed precisely which is why each project needs to be examined independently.

After finding out where a junior gold stock falls in the exploration cycle, then you can start asking these questions.  How long has it been in its given phase?  Is it making progress in its efforts?  Is it reporting its results and are they positive?  Has it projected when the next phase will likely begin?

In researching this thread you may come across some juniors that don't have as good a project as they claim.  But you may also find some undiscovered and less-marketed juniors that have an undervalued project when scrubbed against their peers.  Exploration activity should absolutely be considered when researching a junior gold stock.

Resources:  Resources are ultimately the bread and butter of a junior gold.  In a nutshell, resources are the estimated gold ounces within a specific location that a junior claims to possess.  This gold is identified through geologic evidence obtained via various methods and depending on the strength of the resource has an attached level of certainty relating to its economical extraction.

All the wiggle words in this loose definition are important to note for resources.  Whereas gold producers are extracting their gold from gold reserves that are proven to be economically feasible, resources are not yet so.  Resources do not have enough evidence to presume economic viability.  More testing and drilling needs to be performed in such feasibility tests as mentioned above in order for resources to get the upgrade to reserves.

Though resources are the first step to defining a possible gold deposit, even the regulatory agencies that preside over the gold stocks require disclosures so as not to sway investors to believe that estimated resources will ever prove to be economical.  Like when lifting a footprint at a crime scene, you can only estimate the size of the perpetrator.  Until you have further evidence, nothing can be proved.  This is the same reasoning for resources.

Though resources are not yet proven to be economical, simply attaining resources through technical studies allows juniors to gain a foothold on their projects so that they may continue to advance exploration.  And similar to the different phases of exploration, there are different levels of resources.

Resources scale up in viability with some of the standard phrases you will see being inferred, indicated, measured, probable and proven.  Without getting too technical, the ore grade and sample size weigh heavily on which level a resource will fall in.  Once enough evidence is obtained on the depth and breadth of a deposit, resources can scale up the resource curve either until the evidence supports shelving the project or taking it all the way to production.

And economics play a huge role in how these resources may be presented and viewed by the markets.  It may be discovered that there are indeed resources within a deposit.  But the geological intricacies of the deposit only allow these resources to be economically recoverable at $700 per ounce.  Today these resources are not feasible reserves, but if gold is over say $1,000 per ounce a couple years from now, these resources will then become economically viable reserves.  Again, resources need to be viewed objectively on a project-by-project basis.

Some juniors have very strong resources and even reserves, and some have claim to really weak resources or none at all.  Once you find out what type of a resource a junior has, then it is important to determine how its exploration will support and grow them.  In examining junior golds, a red flag can be hoisted if no activity or operating plan is discernable for identified resources.  A company that sits on its laurels and just hopes its resources alone will carry its stock through this gold bull will sorely disappoint investors.

The general rule of thumb for resources is the higher up the classification scale the better, the more the better and the more focused the activity the better.  Juniors that have a knack for discovery that results in identifying new resources as well as those juniors that grow and upgrade their existing resources should always be viewed with favor.

In addition to the three research points I highlight above, there are two other major areas of focus I will discuss soon in part two of this junior gold stock commentary.  First, funding and financing for the junior golds are often overlooked by many investors, but for a variety of reasons it is vital to pay careful attention to this area.

And now more than ever geopolitics are playing an increasingly important role in the gold-mining industry.  Juniors are certainly not immune to geopolitical travails.  Stay tuned for part two of this series where I will dissect funding, financing and geopolitics pertaining to junior gold stocks.

Ultimately there are dozens of facets that need to be addressed in order to effectively research a junior gold stock before surrendering capital to this exciting sector.  Before you entrust your hard-earned capital to a basket of junior gold stocks, useful research and analysis are crucial in order to uncover the true nature of a company.

Junior gold stocks are fun and speculating in this realm can yield vast riches if played right.  But it is important to look past the smoke and mirrors that many juniors exhibit.  Though a company may look good from the outside and have good initial momentum, if it actually has poor assets without a legitimate business plan it will swallow investor capital so fast it would be difficult to recover.

Quantifiable research really helped refine my search for the quality junior gold stocks and a little due diligence in these areas could avert potential disasters.  Risk is acceptable in the junior gold stock world, it comes with the territory, but it is prudent to mitigate this risk through greater understanding.

In our just-released research report that covers Zeal's 20 favorite junior gold stocks, we profile each stock guided by the fundamental research methodology highlighted above.  In identifying what we believe are the best-of-the-best junior gold stocks, we are rewarded with utility on multiple levels.

This report not only provides us with deeply researched junior gold-stock profiles to choose from, but when the technicals warrant we have the arsenal to make fresh recommendations to our newsletter subscribers.  If you are interested in cutting-edge commodities-market analysis and stock picks, please subscribe to our monthly Zeal Intelligence newsletter today.  And if you would like our latest stock report at your fingertips that covers the exciting junior gold-stock world, it is available now.

The bottom line is junior gold stocks have the potential to reward speculators with legendary gains in this gold bull market.  This risky class of gold-mining stocks is utilitarian in its existence as the juniors provide investors with vast speculative opportunities in addition to serving an important role in the gold-mining cycle.  And among the countless juniors to choose from there is a wide spectrum of quality that includes both the studs and the duds.

But through diligent research it is possible to thresh out the good from the bad.  With the three fundamental areas of focus I highlighted today along with two more that I will touch on in the next part of this series, we can possess the tools to help guide us to the winners.

[PekenoBuda]

Junior Gold Stocks - Parte 2

Scott Wright     January 5, 2007     2778 Words

As this gold bull market continues in its secular uptrend, gold stocks have become increasingly popular as their gains are greatly leveraging those of their underlying metal.  And within this hottest-of-the-markets stock sector, a sub-sector has emerged that investors have embraced and adored.

Junior gold stocks tend to thrive in gold bulls, and as this particular bull heats up, more and more investors are looking for a venue in which to entrust their speculative capital.  Junior golds lie in an adrenaline- and risk-laden sub-sector that can sure take investors on a wild ride.  And picking winners in these small-market-cap stocks can yield monstrous gains.

But unless you have countless hours of free time to research the junior golds, it is often difficult for the average investor to know where to start to discover some high-probability-for-success winners.  Among the hundreds of junior golds out there it is indeed difficult to thresh out the good from the bad.

Over the last few months I've spent quite a bit of time researching junior gold stocks in order to discover some potential winners.  In addition to a recently published research report identifying our favorite junior gold stocks, I found that there are some very useful areas of research that all investors should consider before they speculate in this gold-mining class.

I have refined these important areas of research into five major sections.  Each of these sections can reveal a wealth of information that should help guide the decision-making process of which juniors in which to invest.  With a little diligence, any motivated investor can use these threads of research and apply them to any junior gold stock they choose.

In the first part of this commentary published last week, I dove into the importance of looking into a junior's history/management, exploration and resources.  Strength in each of these areas is vital for the success of a junior gold stock as are these next couple sections that focus on the importance of geopolitics and financing/funding.

Geopolitics:  Geopolitics are always a key component to consider before investing in any resources company.  This is especially important for gold due to the growing scarcity of historically safe gold-mining venues.  Today more than ever gold miners are forced to scour the far corners of the planet in order to discover the gold deposits of the future.

Unfortunately a sizeable portion of the untapped global gold resources grace some not-so-popular regions of the world.  And in order to supply the future demand for the Ancient Metal of Kings, the gold industry must increasingly deal with corrupt governments, cultural challenges and logistical nightmares.

In first-world free-market gold-producing countries such as Canada, Australia and the US as well as Marxist-led gold-rich South Africa, it has become increasingly difficult for junior explorers to stake fresh and exciting claims.  Because of this, many juniors are forced to venture into relatively untapped countries that host varying degrees of geopolitical sensitivities.

Of the twenty junior gold stocks that populate my recently published report, only seven center their operations in the countries mentioned above.  Some of the best junior gold companies are finding gold in the countries of war-torn central Africa, socialist-swinging Latin America and previously-untouchable Asia including China, Mongolia and the former Soviet Union republics.

And depending on the primary country of operation, geopolitical-risk discounts must be considered for many junior gold stocks.  With the strength of our current gold bull and the push for global discovery, this discount has somewhat increased in recent years.

Regardless of the political state of a country, governments are not blind to the fact that the world economy is in the midst of a major commodities bull market.  Fortunately many countries recognize that they cannot exploit and profit from their natural resources without the injection of foreign capital and expertise, thus they're respecting free markets and opening their arms to foreign investment.

But on the flip-side of this coin, there are those governments that are repulsed by the thought of foreigners profiting within their borders.  As seen in recent years, many countries have taken to over-taxing and in some cases nationalizing resources that foreign companies are developing or mining.

And then there are those countries that are under-governed with the federal bodies having little control over the affairs within their borders.  As a libertarian this style of government is appealing, but in non-first-world countries this usually equates to safety hazards.  The threat of violence, war and terror supports further discounts to junior golds operating within countries plagued with this risk.

Most of the junior golds we look at are North America-based companies, hence their trading locale.  And those juniors doing business in geopolitically-unstable countries are sometimes finding it very difficult to garner local support and/or obtain governmental permitting for a project that would likely greatly help the respective economy.  Geopolitical risks can sometimes bear heavy costs to cash-strapped juniors.

When researching any junior gold stock it is imperative to weigh geopolitical risk.  The country of operation needs to be strategically examined and its history and reputation with foreign business and its dealings with resource-specific companies should be considered.  Sometimes the high-risk projects are valued accordingly but sometimes they are well undervalued and speculative opportunities may be available.

There are excellent junior golds that are trying to operate in such geopolitically-risky countries as Venezuela, China and the Congo that have projects valued at just a tenth of what they would be if they were operating in a safe domicile.  If these projects move forward and garner support, obtain the necessary permitting and eventually pour gold, it could mean vast riches for those investors who believed in their stories and accepted their geopolitical risks.

But it is of utmost importance to remember that geopolitical risk is usually out of the control of the juniors.  These juniors can indeed greatly reward you if all turns out as planned, but it is important to stay aware of any threatening situations.  A project can just as easily turn for the worse as it can for the better.

Financing/Funding:  All junior gold stocks typically have one thing in common, the constant challenge of financing.  The continuous struggle of obtaining, retaining and maintaining working capital for operations weighs heavily on the success of a junior gold.  Unlike producers that are able to generate cash flows from the sale of their metals, pure explorers do not have a recurring source of revenue to draw upon.

The primary source of capital for junior golds in the exploration stage comes from equity financing.  And equity financing is a fascinating fixture within the junior gold world.  But this form of financing is wrapped with intricacies that are important for a prospective investor to understand, because depending on how these financings are structured, they could eventually make or break a junior.

Now in order to maximize capital from both initial offerings and subsequent stock sales, a junior needs to build on a strong foundation that effectively tells its story.  Juniors need to have the same mentality as a televangelist.  The more believers a televangelist can convert the better his cash flow to support future ministries.  Juniors need to gain believers in their story too in order to obtain enough capital to keep them functioning.

This is why the marketing and promotional games commonly associated with the juniors are so important.  But there is a fine line these companies walk in order to balance the strength of a story and their need for capital.  When researching juniors it is important to look past the smoke and mirrors that their first-look facades may present.

The reason investors need to err on the side of caution when it comes to financing is due to the unfortunate and pestilent presence of serial promoters.  Some juniors may be guilty of over-promoting their assets while others are guilty of misleading investors by telling a story that is downright false in order to inflate their stock prices.

Researching this thread serves a dual purpose.  First, it forces you to utilize other aspects of research that include history/management, exploration, resources and geopolitics to determine the strength and legitimacy of the story a junior is trying to tell.

The second lies on the other side of the line where you may come across a junior that is poorly marketed and not spreading its story well enough.  In this case diligent research could prove to present a great buying opportunity.  Regardless of its promotional prowess, the interest in and demand for a junior gold stock ultimately contributes to the amount of capital it will receive through equity financing.

It is also important to keep an eye on the structure and volume of any private placement(s) a junior may be party to.  A typical junior-level private placement of shares, especially from the release of shelved shares after the company is public, consists of a consortium of investors that subscribe to shares and/or warrants at a fixed price.

In many cases some of the investors in a private placement are indeed the firms or individuals tasked to market and promote the stock.  This is acceptable, but be leery of aggressive marketing campaigns that might correspond with the timing of the unlocking of restricted shares.  Don't buy on hype, but on unbiased and intelligent research.

Once financing is procured it is then prudent to find out where the money is going.  A good junior should be using the lion's share of its financing for exploration with a small and reasonable balance for other expenses such as compensation and marketing.  This information is easily obtainable within the public filings of their financial statements.

Another thing to look at for the capital-challenged juniors falls in the project funding game.  If a junior is strong enough so its equity financings can take it all the way to the final feasibility phase of a gold project, then it must begin to consider obtaining the funds to actually construct a gold mine.

The small minority of juniors that actually make it to this point find that the capital costs required to construct a gold mine usually dwarf the costs of exploration.  This is one reason why many juniors that get to this phase will either joint venture their projects to a senior partner that can manage the funding or just outright sell them to the highest bidders.  In reality, very few juniors actually construct and operate a gold mine.

Constructing a gold mine can cost from the tens of millions on the low end up to well over a billion dollars on the high end.  With most junior gold stocks having market caps well under $1 billion with very limited working capital, equity financings are often not enough.  So if positive feasibility tests give the green light for mine construction, these juniors need to muster up some serious capital to move forward.  This capital usually comes in the form of debt financing.

For those mature juniors that are taking the path toward gold production, project funding is an area that needs to be closely examined.  Once the tedious technical studies and environmental permitting are complete, large international banks are usually called upon to provide debt facilities that allow the juniors to construct a mine.

And because these banks are lending money to small companies with no collateral that do their business in a sector that is highly volatile and at the mercy of the markets, a lot of intricacies are packaged into the loan requirements.

Quite unfortunate for the junior gold explorers but in most cases necessary through the eyes of the bankers to partially protect their money, some variant of hedging is likely to find its way into the loan requirements.  There are different ways a hedging facility can be structured, but the most common is in the form of forward sales.  Forward sales are exactly what they sound like, selling forward a portion of future gold production at a fixed price.

It is very difficult to find an early-stage gold producer that is not slave to hedging.  In a bear market hedging was the smart bet for many miners, but in a bull market hedging can really hurt profits for many years until the obligation is either met or restructured.  Imagine being locked in to selling gold for $400 per ounce while the open market is paying hundreds of dollars per ounce higher, ouch!  So though hedging seems like a necessary evil for some of these small companies to bootstrap their way to future success, it is still prudent to examine the details of any hedging arrangement.

When examining a hedging structure, a heavy hedge can indeed be a show stopper in the speculation decision.  I like to look at junior hedging arrangements as a portion of their total gold reserves.  If too high of a percentage of gold is sold forward, then it is not worth risking your capital in a company where a bull market would eat it alive.  But if the hedge appears like it will not be too heavy a burden in the future and rests on a minority of the gold reserves, the junior might be worth the risk.  Each situation should be examined independently.

Conclusion:  History/management, exploration, resources, geopolitics and financing/funding should all be viewed objectively.  Each of these areas of research can be weighted differently depending on the junior gold stock in question.  Depending on the size and stage of a junior some of these areas may not be applicable.

And believe it or not junior gold risk usually scales with size.  Though not always the case, the larger the junior the less risky it should be.  In my eyes there are four different levels juniors can fall into.  The largest and most mature juniors are on the verge of becoming gold producers.  These juniors have completed advanced studies on their gold projects and are about to or have started construction of a gold mine.  For these strong juniors gold production is imminent within the next 24 or so months.

The next level junior hovers around the mid-tier level.  This company has resources through preliminary positive technical studies and has a defined drilling program to advance its project(s).  Within the next 12 to 24 months this company expects to make an economic viability decision on its flagship project.

The next level junior a good friend of mine has coined as the "nano-junior".  This junior is on the very small side of the scale as far as valuation goes yet has promise looking forward.  This company could be just getting started in the resource development game and has land holdings that are "promising" with very early testing showing encouraging results.

And the last level junior I have dubbed the "dot-junior".  This junior, like some of the infamous dot-commers of the tech bubble, is a trend chaser, a serial promoter or a schemer.  It typically spends more money on marketing, promotion and salaries than it does on exploration.  And its sole purpose is to exploit the gold bull and shamelessly suck in some of the capital that junior gold stocks command.  The dot-junior has no desire to ever become a gold miner yet can be stealthily disguised with a pretty website and fancy "market speak".  Beware of the dot-juniors.

Are the juniors you are looking at poised to blossom in this gold bull market?  A company doomed for failure may have good initial momentum as it follows the industry trend, but when it's revealed that it has poor assets without a legitimate business plan it will swallow investor capital so fast there is no chance of recovery.

At Zeal we perform independent commodities-stock research and reveal it incrementally to our newsletter subscribers as market conditions warrant as well as through the detailed profiling of our favorite stocks in a given sector in our research reports.  If you are interested in cutting-edge commodities-market analysis and stock picks, please subscribe to our monthly Zeal Intelligence newsletter today.  And if you would like our latest junior-gold research report at your fingertips, it is available now.

The bottom line is due diligence is essential for successful stock picking.  And for the junior golds it is even more important as this riskiest class of mining stocks has very little coverage outside of juniors' self-directed marketing and promotional campaigns.  Any investor though can use the research tools I highlighted above and apply them to any junior.

As this secular gold bull matures and continues to gain more popularity, a larger pool of capital from mainstream investors should greatly bid up the gold stocks.  And among the gold stocks, the juniors should really thrive as their exploration projects stand to greatly influence the future of the gold industry.