"I personally think this year and the majority of the next year...

"I personally think this year and the majority of the next year is lost for the stock market and AAU as well"

I think this will depend on the progress of offtake negotiations and exploration results within the next few months. If nothing good comes from these two things, then AAU will likely languish as you said.

I also think there's a chance the mining sector of the market will recover reasonably quickly after earnings results start coming out, as I think much of the lower expected earnings have already been priced in.

The war in Ukraine looks like it is going to go Russia's way and a negotiated outcome could see markets recover sooner rather than later. Of course none of these things might happen. This is only my best guess.