Eric O's Favorite Gold Miners

TLR is totally new to me.  "Can't own 'em all"

It's the old bait and switch buddy.  You got owned!  

kjm

Not ignoring, it's just that the list above are all currently producing.  That was the focus of that list, though I guess I didn't make that clear.  I own Kaminak.  I have a post or two about it in this thread:

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/forum/basket-miners-do-you/574

About $2.7B market cap.  2011 production should be around 120,000 ounces.  ANV's been showing up on several lists of "most overpriced" miners lately.  Not to worry, the market is just starting to price in the spectacular growth that ANV will put on the board in the next few years.  Production of slated to double by 2013, and that's just the beginning.  The Milling Project is expected to send production soaring to ​1 million ounces of gold equivalent​ by about 2015.  Silver fans should note that HALF of that will be silver!

Working from memory now, I believe the capex on the Milling Project is around $1B, but I read someplace where management was talking about where the money will come from, a lot of it from operational cash flows on the already doubled production after 2013 I think, and it all seemed to make sense to me.  I'm not worried about dilution.

Management is basically all the old Kinross guys circa 2005, so these are professionals who know how to get big things done.

For those who like to buy juniors with a property or two in Nevada, be advised that ANV has more going on in Nevada than any 10 penny stocks combined, and are already onto what looks like a very nice discovery at Hasbrouck.

Bottom line is here is another one that I cannot, will not, walk away from at todays washed out prices.

Here's the most recent presentation:

http://www.alliednevada.com/investors/pdf/1105-anv-corporate-update.pdf

This guy at Motley Fool sure seems to love it.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/06/17/why-i-doubled-down-on-b...

Thx!

With the smaller guys, it's oftentimes part of the plan to find a deposit and then shop it around for a buyer.  The small guys often don't have the access to financing and development expertise to bring something big to production, so that means that it's fertile ground for the majors to get access to some big finds at a good price.

With a bigger company, I wouldn't say they are "too big" to get bought, but how often are they available at the really attractive terms/prices that the majors crave?  Usually only in a tough bear market.  The majors don't like to pay fair market value for anything.  They like to steal stuff at bargain prices, which in my opinion, is what they do to the juniors with some regularity.  There is a conspiracy school of thought that a lot of this vicious naked shorting of the juniors lately is being orchestrated by some of the majors in order to drum up some bargain purchase opportunities.

My opinions are colored by my experiences.  We like to read about how so-and-so miner got bought out for a ton of money.  But more often, for me, I own something that finds a really nice find, and then they end up giving it away to a major for a song.  Bah!

I like the small to mid-size producers.  These are the guys who had the balls to plunge ahead, get to production on their own, and tell the majors to stuff it along the way.

Market Cap of around $1B.  Current production running at a rate of 120,000 per year, ramping up to 200,000 over the next couple years.  The sizzle on this one is the location.  One of the preeminant old Canadian gold camps, The Kirkland Lake Camp historically produced something like ​40Million ounces ​of gold.  They've consolidated the best part of the camp, 5 historic mines that accounted for more than half of the total, with all infrastructure in place.  The best place to find gold is where it's been found before.  Any gold left?  They are drilling like mad, finding gold all over the place.  How does 8 ounces per ton over 46 feet grab you?  Here's a snippet from the May 24, 2011 news release:

“This is a world class intersection. Although the Company does not routinely announce the assays of drill holes which pierce existing reserve or resource blocks, this particular drill hole deserves some attention. The combination of grade and width would make this intersection the richest in the 100 year history of the Kirkland Lake Camp,” said Stewart Carmichael, Chief Exploration Geologist.

Another way to play the area is with Queenston Mining.  More acres, less historic production,  no current production, and about half the market cap.  

Here are the corporate presentations from both Kirkland and Queenston:

http://klgold.com/pdf/reports/KGI_MAY_17_2011_Presentation.pdf

http://www.queenston.ca/investors/pdf/qmi-corporate-presentation.pdf

​I love the whole concept of these old Canadian underground gold camps getting another day in the sun.  This is a keeper.

I get the feeling that a lot of people on this blog focus on small cap miners, from just a few million up to maybe $500 million.  Personally I'd still count them as small cap up to maybe $1 Billion.  Then Mid Cap from say $1B up to $10B, then big cap after that.  Barrick, for instance, runs about $44B.  These are numbers I'm just coming up with off the top of my head.  Didn't check with any "official" definitions or anything.