Just an observationI know I've been critical of Avnel in the past, and also kind of skeptical of people who argue that it is one of the best-priced plays around. Well . . . I've been messing around looking at other possible junior gold stocks, and I've concluded that everyone who says that is totally correct, and to be honest, they've probably understated things a bit. There is a plain explorer -- who doesn't even have any drill results, just some *&^%^ geologic theory -- who is selling at around 25 cents (up from 5 cents at the beginning of the year, Highway 50 Gold Corp). There is a group that have a chunk of land in northern Finland, basically no reviewed results and no formal reports, with stock at 2 cents less than Avnel (Mawson). Azimut is trading at 38 cents a share based on nothing but some good land, a partnership with a major, and no debt.
What the heck is going on with Avnel? At the start of the year -- an amazing year for gold stocks, most of the above have more than doubled -- this stock was selected by the Globe and Mail as the best of the near-term producers. And it is up 30% -- but 30% is sick, compared to some of the speculative dogs above, when AVK is looking for financing, in a rising gold environment, to build an actual producing mine that will pay back a real loan with real dollars.
And this isn't even mentioning the fact that they currently have an operating mine, albeit a small one.
Anyway . . . I went looking at these to see if I could try and find something that I felt like putting half of my Avnel stake in; and I might, with Tomagold -- but the whole exercise really showed how undervalued AVK is. The big question is still 'Why?" Given the risk associated with all of the above stocks, I can't help but feel that any explanation I've heard so far is inadequate. This post isn't meant to be whining, I honestly can't figure it out.