Gold is still the hot trade. While it's not that hard to remember when gold was an afterthought, squeezed between a quick summary of bonds and commodities during financial programming, it is now a leading investment class. Whether an investor's interest in gold is fueled by fears of inflation, economic and political turbulence, technicals, or even just a "greater fool" theory, the reality is that it has been a winning trade.
By now any investor with even a passing interest in gold knows a little something about the myriad of investment choices. People can choose to own actual bullion or numismatic gold, resource mutual funds, specialized ETFs like SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD), or mining stocks - and those are just the most popular options. (For more, see Is There A Right Way To Invest In Gold?)
Given that mining companies are the only entry on the list that can actually grow from internal strategic decisions, they are worth a serious look. This time, it is time to consider some of the smaller miners. Small miners can offer substantially more bang for the buck than larger miners like AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) and Kinross (NYSE:KGC) or highly diversified mining giants like Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO).
A Quick View From Above
What is interesting about mining companies is that they don't necessarily track gold prices, and that is particularly true for smaller miners. For small miners, performance is often significantly influenced by the company's efforts to bring mines into operation and increase gold production. Investors should also note that many (if not most) analysts expect gold prices to peak in the next year or two and then decline. Those analysts could be wrong, but the possibility is worth considering all the same. (For more, see Does It Still Pay To Invest In Gold?)
Minefinders (AMEX:MFN)
Minefinders is perhaps the riskiest name on this list, as the company has only one producing asset at present - the Dolores mine in Mexico. Dolores has very attractive production costs right now and good expansion potential; the company is due any day now to provide an updated reserve number for this property. Minefinders also considered its options with the La Bolsa asset and putting this into production could allow for a sizable jump in production within three years.
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