Quality Gold Junior Miners Poised to Soar

After a tough 2011, the junior resource market is turning and things are definitely looking up, Resource Opportunities Publisher Lawrence Roulston tells us in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. The mood of investors in the resource sector has turned positive, and based on the sentiment and interest shown at recent investment conferences, the smart money is looking for deals that have real upside potential. Roulston tells us about several he feels are poised for significant action as the market heats up.

The Gold Report: Quite a bit has happened on the international economic and geopolitical fronts since you last spoke with The Gold Report in January 2011. In your view, how have these things affected the markets for precious metals and junior resource stocks?

Lawrence Roulston: Of course, most people who have invested over the past year have probably suffered some pretty serious losses and may be wondering why they ever got into this business. From where we sit now, I think the worst is over, and I'm very optimistic about what's coming up in the near term. There was a tremendous amount of uncertainty over the last year with the euro, the dollar and the growing debt levels.

Gold and silver, of course, have again become a safe haven for investors who are concerned about all of this uncertainty, reflected in very strong metals prices. Governments both here and in Europe are throwing out trillions of dollars and euros in bailouts to prop up failing companies and countries. Longer term, that's going to have a tremendous impact through devaluated currencies. That brings us back to gold and silver, not just as safe havens in the near term, but also as long-term hedges against currency devaluation. So that is very positive for the precious metals markets.

In the meantime, the companies that are involved in these metals were clobbered last year. Investors wanted the security of bullion, but fled from the risk of equities. But it's very clear now that the equity prices are coming back. Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen fairly strong growth in trading volumes and prices, which are starting to trend higher. I think now is just absolutely the best time in years to be getting into the market with the major risk factors being more-or-less put aside and stock prices beaten down to a level where there's tremendous value. (more)