While many people are moaning and groaning about the sad state of the junior exploration market, the smart ones are paying attention and finding out that there are some real speculative opportunities out there.

A great example is Colorado Resources Inc (CXO: TSXV). It started 2012 at less than 30¢, drifted lower to start out 2013 at less than 20¢, and less than a month ago, was trading at 16¢.

On April 25, one news release reporting results from two drill holes right here in British Columbia changed everything. People in the know were able to react quickly to a result of 242 meters of 0.63% copper and 0.85 g/t gold. Over 6 million shares traded on the day of the announcement and the stock jumped 337% to close at 54¢.

So everyone who didn't jump in immediately missed the boat – right? Wrong! The stock has traded over 55 million shares since then and is trading at $1.47 as this blog is being written. A 9-bagger already, for the astute people who were in early.

So what? Well, it's safe to say that the general public doesn't know this story yet. How will they find out? The people who love to speculate on exploration juniors will be out in droves at this weekend's “Cambridge World Resource Investment Conference”.

Vancouverites have always been the greatest supporters of the exploration juniors, and they are about to get rewarded. They'll have a chance to talk to at least two key members of the Colorado team, Adam Travis and Jim Oliver. Colorado has a booth at the conference, plus at 230pm on Monday, after a related commentary by Brent Cook, the Colorado team will make a special presentation to discuss the success so far, and the plans to build on it.

Make no mistake – Colorado's discovery is a big deal. Big discoveries are rare. Not many get made – ever, and in the last few years especially, great results have been scarce. Here's a quote from John Kaiser, one of the foremost researchers and analysts of junior exploration companies, "The North Rok discovery hole allows speculation that we may have the deeper equivalent of Red Chris starting at surface. If Colorado outlines a Red Chris equivalent, but with the grades in hole #1, the difference in after-tax NPV at 10% is $600 million vs $2.4 billion. I am recommending Colorado a Good Relative Spec Value Buy at $0.89 with a short term target of $1.50, and hopes that when the next round of drilling is done, we see a summer trading play in the $3-$10 range."

This weekend, everyone in or coming in to Vancouver has a chance to get informed and get back to the fun side of speculating in mineral exploration. And it's not just Colorado Resources. There will be plenty of other companies with encouraging stories to tell.

Registration in advance is free here.