The 20 Best Risk/Reward High Return Gold & Silver StocksThe 20 Best Risk/Reward High Return Gold & Silver Mining Stocks. https://seekingalpha.com/article/3791406-the-20-best-risk-reward-high-return-gold-and-silver-mining-stocks?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-widget Jan. 5, 2016 2:54 PM ET Disclosure: I am/we are long AXU, AAU, ARNGF, BGMZF, BCEKF, BRIZF, CDE, EXK, AG, HUMRF, ICGQF, MUX, MDRPF, ORZCF, PMNXF, SGSVF, SVLKF, SSRI, RVREF. (More...) Summary 20 stocks that will likely outperform the gold & silver mining ETFs. Why these are the must own gold & silver miners for large returns. What makes them the best risk/reward gold & silver mining stocks. Pro Argonaut Gold: Argonaut Gold is a solid mid-tier producer. There is a lot to like about this company. Their production is forecasted to grow from 135,000 oz in 2015 to 400,000 by 2020. They have two producing mines in Mexico with all-in costs around $1100. They have three more mines to build (two in Mexico and one in Canada) and all of them are similar. This is a very smart company that purchases economic projects with solid resources, low capex, and moderate cash costs. All 5 of their mines should produce 80,000 to 150,000 oz at low to moderate cash costs. Currently their cash costs are higher than investors expected. This is why the stock has crashed from $10 in 2011 to .93 cents today. They have $44 million in cash and very low debt ($5 million). It's amazing that a growth company that has purchased 2 companies (Pediment Exploration and Prodigy Gold) and a large project (San Agustin), and built two mines, has no debt. They need to build 3 more mines over the next five years, so that will take some debt. Anyone who analyzes gold mining stocks has to be impressed with this stock. They have executed like pro's. They now have 12 million oz of M&I and excellent exploration potential. The only question to ask is how big is this company going to get? My guess is that they will continue to buy projects and build mines. With a FD market cap of $145 million, the upside potential for this stock is excellent. They are only selling at $10 per oz for my estimated future reserves. I think they have 20 bagger potential at higher gold prices. Con Argonaut Gold: Kees Dekker, Contributor Amazing the way you rate Argonaut. Mind you, not much was presented in terms of numbers. This is a company that gobbled up US$147 million since December 2012. This is not that evident since the exercise of warrant brought in US$115 million and the Prodigy acquisition another US$27.4 million. Argonaut is company that uses good cash flow from its El Castillo mine and throws it at inferior projects such as La Colorada and San Antonio and recently Magino and San Augustin. Unfortunately El Castillo, which is really a good operation, has not much life left after it has produced some 700,000 ozs from reserves that were quoted at 1,2 million ounces in 2010. Of these 1.2 million ounces, 200,000 ops were in Transitional Ore that gives a crappy recovery. The company is not clear what the reserves are currently. It rather quotes the 2010 figure and then how much has been produced since. The story is probably not too good to punt. San Antonio has been around for donkey years, still to be developed. You wonder why when a positive feasibility study was completed in October 2012. Obviously something is not that attractive there. San Augustin has a grade of 0.32 g/t and six years life of mine. Not that impressive either. In other words, don't believe all the numbers that are presented by managing promoting their company in presentations. Do the sums, how much money has been raised by Argonaut over the years and how much returned? Is a company only there to used net free cash flow generated to open another mine to generate free cash flow to fund another mine, never to return a cent as dividends and share buy-backs? Rather than wasting the good cash flow from El Castillo, they should have paid back its shareholders. A twenty bagger? I doubt it. Be happy that the company survives if current gold prices stay as they are for three more years.