Exploration Premium : Do Capital Markets Value Hope for Exploration Success & Mineral Discovery?

Through reliance on continuous disclosure, market efficiency and simple tools, I make an observation that the capital markets value exploration and development resource companies in a manner that could effectively attribute to them some hope for exploration success and minerals discovery, which premium might not, on average, be extended to producers (to the same degree). Representing a practitioner's approach, as the research was not constructed with an academic orientation, academia's attention is drawn to this matter, which requires rigorous analysis and testing in the interest of optimizing industry's decision-making practices and ultimately increasing efficiency in allocation of its resources