I hear what you say about underperformance of gold minnows but that very underperformance is creating buying opportunities. My criteria for investing in minor goldies are that they are actually in production or very close to production, that they heve significant* resources and that their production costs will be low.
One company you mention goes close but not quite close enough to attract my money yet. BDG looks set to make their second attempt at production successful but I want to see more evidence of the resource size before I take the plunge. They have a state of the art crushing plant, cash reserves and a herd of stale bulls who will keep a lid on the shareprice for some time yet.
HEG fits all three of my criteria. Its share price has been rising of late as the company communicates its very positive resource situation. HEG has some of the richest gold veins in the world in terms of historic production.
MCO has a very substantial, high grade resource and anticipated production costs should be low. They are yet to start production but they are set to have ore toll treated in the near future. I hold both HEG and MCO.
(* My gold investment focus is on Lachlan Fold Belt miners. The gold ores in this terrane are characterised by sporadic, nuggety gold. Measuring ore reserves in this material is very difficult even though historic production has been world class. Production costs are a bonus. The coarse gold is typically liberated at a coarse crush and can be concentrateed by gravity)
