Canadian gold mining company Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC) recently received authorization from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Non-Renewable Natural Resources to re-commence advanced exploration activities at the Fruta del Norte (FDN) gold project in Zamora-Chinchipe province of Ecuador, which was put on hold last year as the gold mining activities were halted in the country. Kinross had acquired the project last year by buying Aurelian Resources (another gold mining stock in Ecuador) for $1.2 billion. With this authorization, Kinross expects to re-commence its drilling program at FDN shortly. The program includes a 20,000 meter drilling campaign to support the completion of a feasibility study. The company plans to use four drills to execute the drilling campaign which is expected to take six months to complete. Kinross expects to complete a pre-feasibility study in January 2010. Kinross benefits from higher gold prices, exploration projects and acquisitions. The company ...

Paying attention to gold mining in recent quarters has become a requirement as investors look at the price of the dollar and swings in price of several differing factors. In any sense, a position in a stable commodity is needed to balance a portfolio, but to what extent? This is an individual assessment but one that should be of concern for any investor. Picking the correct opportunity to fill this need is the question. The correct choice is one that will help balance the portfolio but also stave off the possibility of a commodities crash.

Taseko Mines Ltd., a mining and exploration company, works to explore for and exploit mineral deposits in Canada. Although the company focuses primarily on gold deposits, it also capitalizes on other associated metals such as molybdenum (a steel production additive) and copper. The company has recently announced a solid opportunity and expansion that will

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Today we are featuring top-performing “Precious Metals" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in equity securities companies that are involved in mining of gold and other precious metals. Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Precious Metals Equity Funds.

3 Precious Picks

Van Eck International Investors Gold A (INIVX) seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in common stocks of gold mining companies. The fund was incepted in January 1956.

The fund normally invests at least 80% of total assets in the gold mining industry, with at least 25% of assets invested in gold mining stocks. The fund may invest up to 100% of its assets, or, for temporary defensive purposes, less than 25% of its assets in gold stocks. Randgold Resources Limited, Goldcorp Incorporated and Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited are among its major holdings.

The fund declares and pays dividends in March, June, September and December.

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My Picks for Thursday November 5, 2009, are:

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VGZ, Vista Gold Corp.

VGZ is an international gold mining company based in Littleton, Colorado, with a plus 20-year history of gold exploration, development and operations.

** VGZ reported an update on activities at the Paredones Amarillos gold project in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Receipt of the Temporary Occupation Permits was announced on October 28, 2009, and signals the commencement of a number of activities designed to advance the development of the project towards construction and the planned start of production in 2011.

Once in production, the Paredones Amarillos gold project is expected

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 22, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado (EGO), Goldcorp (GG), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Pan American Silver (PAAS), Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) and Gold SPDR (GLD).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This week: Gold Miners’ Margin Problem

As gold sets new highs, it would only be natural to assume that profit forecasts for gold mining companies would be soaring too. Surprisingly, profit forecasts are not jumping.

Though some brokerage analysts have raised their full-year projections in recent weeks, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is not moving higher for most gold miners. Rather, it is essentially unchanged for Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado (EGO), Goldcorp (GG)

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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 ...

Doug Casey is an American free-market market economist, financial author and entrepreneur. He has been writing a monthly investment newsletter, the International Speculator since 1979 and I always find his ideas quite refreshing. He is also somewhat of a perma gold bull as gleaned from an interview posted here a few days ago. In a follow-up discussion with Louis James, editor of the International Speculator, Casey focused on the outlook for gold stocks.

Here is the first section of Casey’s interview:

L: Doug, we were talking about gold last week, so we should follow up with a look at gold stocks. If one of the reasons to own gold is that it’s real - it’s not paper, it’s not simultaneously someone else’s liability - why own gold stocks?

Doug: Leverage. Gold stocks are problematical as investments. That’s true of all resource stocks, especially

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With what has happened in the world of late and what will be unfolding in the next 5 years or so those few investors who fully understand the impact the current economic situation is going to have on future inflation, the USD, interest rates, the stock market, physical gold and silver and gold and silver stocks and warrants in particular are going to be in the unique position of being the benefactors of currently unimaginable returns and wealth. All they need do, as I like to say, is “Just prepare and prosper!”

Back in the mid- to late 1970’s, as gold went up from its 1972 low of $60 to $850 in 1980 (and silver to $50), gold and silver stocks realized absolutely amazing gains:

Lion Mines – 1975 price: $0.07 / 1980 price: $380 i.e. an increase of 542,757%!!!
Azure Resources – 1975 price: $.05 / 1980 price: $109 i.e. an increase …

Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the world's biggest gold producer, recently agreed to sell 25% interest in its Pascua-Lama silver project in South America to Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW) for about $625 million.

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Silver Wheaton is the world's only silver trading company. It does not own or operate mines, but buys silver at below-market prices through long-term contracts with five major silver producers including Goldcorp Inc. (GG), Lunding Mining, Hellas Gold and Glencore and then reselling it to major industrial customers at a markup.

Barrick will receive $3.90 for each ounce of silver delivered under the agreement, which covers the life of the mining project, expected to be about 25 years. For Silver Wheaton, the deal will generate 9 million ounces of silver annually over the first 5 years at the Pascua-Lama mine, which will raise the company's output to 40 million ounces

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[Editor’s Note: If you’re new to the commodities-investing arena, and are uncertain about the landscape – or even if you’re an “old hand” at natural-resource stocks, but want some insights into the new profit plays and new players – consider hiring a guide: Money Morning Contributing Editor Peter Krauth, a recognized expert in metals, mining and energy stocks, is also the editor of the Global Resource Alert trading service, which ferrets out companies poised to profit from the so-called “Secular Bull Market” in commodities. A former portfolio advisor, Krauth continues to work out of resource-rich Canada, which keeps him close to most of the companies he researches. Against the growing global financial malaise, Krauth says that commodities are among the most-profitable and least-risky investments available, and notes that this may well be the most powerful bull market for commodities we’ll see in our …