The life cycle of a gold miner usually involves a series of phase changes. An explorer becomes a developer, then a small producer, then a mid-tier, and so on, with the markets revaluing the stock as the miner becomes more profitable and less risky with each phase change.
So, one way to play emerging commodities stocks is to focus on miners that are approaching a phase change and front-run the revaluation.
Here’s a high-profile example: