Ten Bagger: This West African country is a premier gold jurisdiction.

As gold prices poke the US$3000/oz mark on safe haven demand it’s tempting to seek safety with your investments in other ways, focusing on jurisdictions that don’t present much risk.

That’s one reason West Australian gold producers trade at multiples well beyond those pulled in elsewhere, with West African stocks typically lumbered with the ‘African discount’, even if they are money-spinners like West African Resources (ASX:WAF) and Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU).

But well-studied investors are able to peer through the stereotypes.

West Africa is not a monolithic block, and while coups in countries like Mali and Burkina Faso have made them extraordinarily difficult to operate in, even for the world’s largest gold miners, others are becoming fertile breeding grounds for investment in junior exploration stories.

Key among those is Cote d’Ivoire, which has become the go-to jurisdiction for gold explorers on the African continent in recent years, ironic given it was a mining pariah state as recently as its 2011 civil war.

Source: Stockhead