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Gold has surpassed the mental and technical barrier of US$2,000, precisely during the time of year when it historically performs at its best.

So, how do you play this move?

Ideally, you should have already positioned yourself in physical assets and high-quality mining companies. However, if you find yourself in the junior mining space, worry not—the flight has been delayed, and passengers waiting have slowly been overheating in a cramped air cabin.

Currently, there are many overlooked gold exploration companies with compelling drill stories.

Wingman is actually considering one of these two companies and will likely make a purchase today.

Both of these companies share a few common traits:

• The market has been impatient with them

• Assays are pending

• They have a good chance of significant discoveries

• While their tight share structures have hurt them on the downside, the same lack of liquidity could benefit them on the upside

We are referring to Juggernaut Exploration and Northern Shield Resources.

To be clear, they share a few common traits, but these are two drastically different companies with different risk profiles. But looking at the big picture, both of these are speculative plays.

Juggernaut Exploration

Look at the graphic below, pulled from their November corporate deck. 70% of their shares are spoken for, leaving only 30% available for retail investors. Additionally, they have Crescat Capital on standby, ready to scream their results from the mountaintop. There are no warrants coming due anytime soon.

$JUGR.V has not only one chance of hitting but three. Assays are pending for the Midas, Empire, and Bingo projects.

The image above is from Midas. We are particularly interested in this drill program as they are going straight for the jugular with these untested IP anomalies.

According to Dr. Quinton Hennigh, while at Beaver Creek, people were quite excited about how this core looked. So, why is it taking so long to get the assay results back?

Not sure, but since then, Crescat has increased its investment in Juggernaut.

It is worth mentioning that the Empire Property has some serious potential as well. This was pulled from the company’s Empire Project page:

That should raise your eyebrow a little.

Northern Shield Resources

Another tightly held stock that has already experienced a significant run this year, only to find itself right back where it started.

Ian Bliss and the team have been actively engaged in extensive exploration work, discovering visible gold multiple times. In their latest press release dated October 17th, the message was clear: 'Look, visible gold, assays pending.’

However, the market is growing impatient with the wait.

The Root & Cellar property is in Newfoundland and we are shooting for high-grade gold here.

The fact that three drill holes have already hit visible gold eliminates the question of whether they are dusters. The real question now is how much gold is there and whether it's enough.

Certainly, there are people on the sidelines, and we are keeping a close eye on this development.

These two exploration plays are at an extremely early stage and rather binary – they either succeed, impressing the market enough to trigger a substantial move in share price, or they don’t, causing the share price to languish and potentially leading to some painful dilution.

Moreover, both plays are not directly comparable.

$NRN.V pretty much has one last shot. Their intentionally small drill program aimed to assess what's there, and they did hit. Now, it's a matter of market perception and what the truth machine results in.

As for $JUGR.V, they have three attempts before they're out. Recently financed but exploring in expensive terrain.

These discovery plays are where you can see significant gains as well as losses.

Regardless, both should be viewed as risky plays, and we are not making a buy recommendation to anyone. Only speculate with money you're prepared to lose.

Make sure to subscribe so you can receive our weekend edition and see which company we are currently speculating on.