As Canaccord Adams analyst Wendell Zerb puts it, Aurelian Resources Inc. started out as a "fairy tale" story in the junior mining world. The company's Fruta del Norte gold discovery, arguably the best in decades, sent the stock from around 25¢ a share in 2006 to more than $40 (pre-split) in 2007.

Fast forward to this year, and Aurelian is being sold to Kinross Gold Corp. for half its peak value. Mr. Zerb is a little bitter that the price is so low, and that a rival bid never emerged.

But in his opinion, the biggest disappointment is that Aurelian 's sale is an anti-climatic letdown that affects the entire junior mining sector.

The problem is that big discoveries like Fruta del Norte are very important in drawing capital to the junior mining world, because they get investors excited about the next hot discovery and put their focus solidly on exploration plays. Unfortunately, Aurelian's sale never really pulled that off, making it a missed opportunity.

"That said, we don't believe pointing fingers accomplishes much in the Aurelian case," he wrote in Canaccord's "Junior Mining Weekly" note. "Junior mining is a high-risk, speculative industry and in this case, through a combination of circumstances, the risks associated with [Fruta del Norte] snuffed out the climax to the Aurelian fairy tale."

Peter Koven