Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) to be Avoided?

There are a number of people who are telling people they should stay away from gold and gold mining companies, for what seems to be nothing other than being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. So they recommend not investing in companies like Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) because they're focused almost solely on producing gold, rather than a variety of metals, among other reasoning.

Others have also stated they think this is largely speculators driving the gold price increases, rather than based on fundamentals.

Forgetting gold miners for a moment, to suggest that gold prices are driven by speculators rather than fundamentals is to basically reveal incredible lack of understanding of gold and what is driving its price.

For pure gold miners, those who are controlling costs and producing gold to meet increasing demand aren't being driven by speculators, but, again, demand.

So the idea that gold miners aren't a good investment is ludicrous in our current economic environment, although obviously each one needs to be taken a close look at.