10 Gold Stocks for 2008

5) Enough brokerage firms today provide trading access to Canada that investors might want to check out Iamgold (symbol IMG on the Toronto exchange). The company is a producer of more than 1 million ounces of gold annually, along with other mineral and royalty interests that produce cash flow. The company also has four promising exploration projects. Primary operations are in West Africa, North and South America.

6) Because production at its important Morila gold mine is likely to start declining this year (toward its schedule life end-date of 2012), an investor in Rangold Resources(GOLD Quote - Cramer on GOLD - Stock Picks) would be buying partly on the belief that its exploration projects will yield big results or that those properties will prove attractive to an acquirer. This all-Africa operator's shares have been performers, though, quadrupling in price over the last three years. Given its symbol, one wonders if some investors mistakenly buy it thinking they're getting the gold ETF?

7) Those who closely follow more speculative mining companies have loved Vancouver-based Novagold(NG Quote - Cramer on NG - Stock Picks) for quite some time, saying that its properties were going to be true winners and that is was grossly undervalued based on what the company might eventually produce -- perhaps 700,000 to 1 million ounces annually. It is now time to find out, as its first mine is supposed to become commercially operational in the first quarter, producing enough gold to make the company cash-flow positive. Supporters say it is grossly undervalued based on today's gold price and its potentially huge in-ground reserves.

Smaller Speculative Plays

8) Seabridge Gold(SA Quote - Cramer on SA - Stock Picks) is a North American operator headquartered in Toronto. This is a different sort of company, one that says it has no intention of operating mines itself. The game plan is to buy cheap deposits, study and prove their worth and then bring in an operator as a partner to actually do the mining. I don't tend to like stocks that don't rally in a bull market for their sector, and SA languishes well below its highs, but at least it did seem to do the first part of its strategy well as it bought a lot of property nearly 10 years ago back when gold was down near $300/ounce.