RE: Gold stock life cycleHere is the chart:
https://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/9/15_Special_John_Hathaway_Report_-_Gold,_Opportunity_of_a_Lifetime_files/Picture%2010.jpg
Hathaway is one of the most respected commentators out there, and I've seen the same chart in articles by Casey and Brent Cook as well.There is something to it, as I've (painfully) discovered with TowerHill, which his fund owns a lot of, last time I checked.
If you want to base it on near term production, then the location of GPD in the Yukon is pointless because it no longer matters. The question becomes how does the company stack up against all the other near term producers: location, cost of production, ounces per year, total mine life, share structure and so on. Near term production, if the ramp-up goes without a hitch, does generate a share price premium and does mean less risk than the explorers, and in the current risk-averse climate may make it a better investment.
I have been considering this issue for Kaminak too, and based on my experience with Tower Hill, I would say there is still a good ways to go before it gets to the trough (and if they are not bought out it will get there), because the extent of the deposit still isn't well-defined. The retail investors that move this stock are news junkies, and without trying to characterize how the news will turn out (drilling news is a function of expectations, which are high for KAM), there is plenty more of it left.
I'm holding, but your point is valid.