Greatland Gold (LSE: GGP) shares have been one of the big risers since last year. Indeed, if I had invested in the stock this time last year, I would currently been sitting on a return of over 700%. With shares up by over 12% yesterday, there is also significant optimism that GGP has further to rise. But yesterday’s rise comes off the back of a steady decline over the past few weeks. This decline is due to negative drill results at its Scallywag mine in Australia, highlighting the risks of investing in gold stocks.
What factors are affecting the Greatland Gold share price?
There are a number of factors that prompted the soaring share price of GGP in 2020. Firstly, the economic uncertainty brought about from the pandemic meant that many investors turned to gold. Consequently, the gold price soared, and this had a positive effect for a number of gold stocks, including Greatland Gold. Warren Buffett’s purchase of Barrick Gold also increased optimism that gold miners were quality investments.
Greatland Gold has also managed to release a series of excellent results from the Havieron deposit in Western Australia, consistently boosting the Greatland Gold share price. Last week, these excellent results were reiterated. This demonstrates significant potential for the future. In this venture, the company has partnered with Newcrest, in order to share the risks and rewards. As Newcrest is an established Australian mining company, this could be extremely beneficial for GGP, especially as a useful source of funding.
Are there any risks?
Of course, with any gold mining stock, there are plenty of risks involved. Indeed, the Greatland Gold share price has risen so much over the last year that the firm is now valued at around £1bn. This seems a very high valuation for a company still in its exploration stages and not making any revenues. As a result, the stock is certainly speculative, and I normally stay away from such speculation. There is also the slight risk that the company runs out of money before it can become profitable.
The risks of the AIM-listed miner have been well-demonstrated after its recent drill results at Scallywag. After a series of extremely positive results at Havieron, I feel that investors were overly optimistic about successes elsewhere. These poor results therefore demonstrate the realities of a gold miner, to the extent that not all results will be positive. The Greatland Gold share price has fallen around 28% on the back of these results.
Would I buy?
Although I recognise that there are a number of risks with the company, I am still tempted to buy. There is still significant confidence around the future of the company. For example, Â the outgoing CEO, Gervaise Heddle, recently purchased 500,000 shares in the company. This is a sign of belief that Greatland Gold shares are more than just a speculative punt and do have a very bright future. I believe that GGP could be a good addition to my diversified portfolio.