Leading gold producer, Goldcorp’s (GG) adjusted net profit in the third quarter of 2009 more than doubled to 19 cents from last year’s 9 cents on higher gold prices and lower cash costs per ounce of gold. Reported earnings were also higher than the Zacks Consensus estimate of 15 cents.  However, on a GAAP basis, net earnings dropped 62% to 16 cents from 42 cents in the previous year due to a foreign exchange loss of $28.1 million. Revenues were up 25% to $691.9 million from $552.2 million in the previous year driven by a 12% rise in average realized prices to $968 per ounce from $865 per ounce in the year-ago quarter and a 9% increase in gold sales volumes to 601,500 ounces.  Gold production increased by 11% year over year to 621,100 ounces compared with 557,400 ounces in 2008 following higher production at the Red ...

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX), the largest gold mining company in the world, has entered into an agreement with Xstrata Copper Chile S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Xstrata Plc, to acquire Xstrata’s 70% interest in the El Morro project for $465 million in cash. Another Canadian miner, New Gold Inc. (NGD) owns the remaining 30% interest in El Morro. The El Morro gold project is located in the Atacama Region in Chile. The project has total measured and indicated resources of about 8.3 million ounces of gold and about 6.3 billion pounds of copper. The acquisition will add another large, high quality gold-copper resource to Barrick’s portfolio. In Chile, Barrick already controls a project, which is entering construction, called Pascua-Lama. It also has a 50% stake in another mine, the Cerro Casale project. El Morro is located near the Pascua-Lama and Cerro Casale projects. Xstrata ...

Canada’s leading gold producer, Goldcorp Inc. (GG), recently announced that its Marlin mine in Guatemala has received certification under the International Cyanide Management Code for the use of cyanide for the production of gold. Marlin is Goldcorp's third gold mine to receive full certification. The Marigold mine in Nevada was the first gold mine in the world to be fully certified under the Cyanide Code, followed by El Sauzal mine, which was the first gold mine in Mexico to be fully certified. The Cyanide Code is a voluntary industry program for companies involved in the production of gold using cyanide, developed with the support of the United Nations Environment Program. This apart, Goldcorp is consistently acquiring shares in Osisko Mining Corporation, a junior gold mining company in Canada. According to the regulatory filing, Goldcorp has purchased 4.8% of Osisko Mining by buying about 8.5 million shares ...

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) reported a flat $492 million or 56 cents per share in profits in the second quarter of the year, compared to the year ago level of $485 million or 55 cents per share. The Canadian gold miner generated revenues of $2.03 billion, 3% higher than the year ago level. Operating cash flow rose 42% to $718 million compared to $505 million in the same prior-year period. This reflected lower income tax payments as a result of the production mix and the use of tax loss carry forwards. The realized gold price for the quarter was $931 per ounce, which was $33 higher than the year ago level. Gold production reached 1.87 million ounces at total cash costs of $452 per ounce due to strong operating performance in the North and South America regions. This put the company on track with a ...

Source: The Gold Report  05/29/2009
Gold investors know all too well the psychological importance of $1,000 gold. The yellow metal’s been hovering frustratingly near that level for weeks after briefly surpassing it in February. According to John Kaiser, editor of the Kaiser Bottom-Fishing Report, “we’re getting very close.” In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, John shares his “modest” price forecast of $1,300 – $1,400 within the next six months and presents strategies for gold companies looking to create value.

The Gold Report: John, you have said that you believe gold may go up to $1,300 to $1,400, but probably not higher. Can you give our readers an overview of how you achieved those targets?

John Kaiser: I think we’re ready for a real increase in the price of gold, which is why I am looking at more modest targets, such as $1,300 to $1,400, happening …

A turbulent day for the markets ended with a slight gain.  The markets started out strong due to the release of strong economic data on housing and durable goods.  The Dow and NASDAQ closed at 7749.81 and 1528.95 respectively.  The S&P was up 0.96% to close at 813.88.  Oil was down as news was released that US inventories were at a 16-year high.  Oil settled at $52.77.  Gold was up today settling at $938 as the dollar weakened.  The 10-year price was down and yields settled at 2.786%

The Commerce Department recently released data showing that demand for durable goods increased 3.4% in February.  If transportation goods were not included orders were up 3.9%.  Orders for capital goods increased 11% in February as well as machinery orders increasing 13.5%.  Despite strong order numbers the likes of Caterpillar [CAT: 28.91, -0.49 (-1.67%)] and John Deere [DE: 34.67, -0.30

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A gold bug who prefers equities as investments to bullion and bars, Midas Letter publisher James West expects his portfolio picks to shine to the tune of at least 15% appreciation on average. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, that sunny outlook stands in stark contrast to other things the well-regarded adviser sees on the horizon. He anticipates no letup in the storm of market volatility and holds out even less hope for the U.S. currency’s ability to stay afloat in a multi-trillion-dollar flood of new money.

The Gold Report: You’ve predicted that the United States’ defaulting on its debt is not just likely; it’s inevitable and imminent. Given the state of the world economy, can the federal government do anything to avoid this—and the resulting monetary collapse it would trigger?

James West: In pure theoretical terms, absolutely. Stop printing money and put the whole American system on a …

Just like Friday morning, gold blasted out of the starting gate as soon as Globex trading began in the Far East on Monday morning. And just like Friday morning, this price spike ran into a wall of selling that went on for about four hours. Then there was a respite until 3:00 a.m. New York time when another wave of selling commenced that lasted right through London…and until the Comex open. Then the dealers (mostly JPMorgan, I would think) pulled their bids for the third and last time…and the price of gold cratered another $10…for the third and last time. Silver really got it in the neck on the Comex open. There was nothing free market about this…this was the Gold Cartel…pure and simple. The US$ didn’t even start to rise until after all the damage was done, so you can’t blame it on that.

It was encouraging to see both

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Royal Gold, Inc. (RGLD) is a precious metals royalty company engaged in the acquisition and management of precious metals royalty interests. The company’s portfolio provides investors with a unique opportunity to capture value in the precious metals sector without incurring many of the risks associated with mine operations such as capital costs, operating costs, and environmental liabilities. Royal owns a large portfolio of active, developing and explorations style royalties located in some of the world’s most prolific gold regions.

The company recently announced the closing of its acquisition of the royalty portfolio from Barrick Gold Corporation effective October 1, 2008. Consideration to Barrick for the transaction was approximately $150M net cash and a restructuring of Royal Gold’s royalty positions at Barrick’s Cortez Pipeline Mining Complex in Nevada. The cash portion of the purchase price for the transaction was paid from Royal’s cash on hand, and the agreement

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