NovaGold (NG) (GG) (NEM) (EGO) (ABX) Trading Up as Gold Jumps

The price of gold is hopping again today, pushing up shares of gold miners like NovaGold (NYSE:NG), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Newmont (NYSE:NEM), Eldorado Gold (NYSE: EGO) and Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), as the market remains jittery over the inability of politicians to come to a conclusion concerning the debt ceiling.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose to $16.80 an ounce at $1,618.30.

Spot gold climbed as high as $1,624 an ounce and was up 1.1 percent at $1,615.74 an ounce.

Expectations are the price of gold will be volatile this week, moving in conjunction with news stories released covering the negotiations.

Silver Prices jumped to $41.08 an ounce in Monday morning – a 2.5 gain from the close on Friday. It has pulled back since then.

Barrick (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Newmont (NYSE:NEM) All Glad Down Week is Over

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) were all down again the last week, as gold struggled to find support with conflicting economic reports having investors moving from Treasury's to gold during the week as they fled to safe havens.

Gold prices for the week ended at $1,211.30, finishing the Friday session up $11.90.

Only Barrick benefited of the three gold mining giants on the day from that upward movement in gold prices, increasing slightly to $43.24, gaining $0.14, or 0.32 percent, although they were still way down for the last 5 trading days.

Goldcorp didn't fare as well Friday, dropping to $41.40, a loss of $0.27, or 0.65 percent. Goldcorp was also down significantly in the last week.

Newmont has been doing fairly well on the week until the bottom fell out of gold prices on July 1, when they plummeted by over $4 a share. They had been level until then. They ended the week and Friday at $58.76 a share, down $0.23 on the day, or 0.39 percent.

I expect the week after the Fourth of July weekend in the U.S. to rebound for gold prices in general, and these three major gold miners. We'll see if that is true.

But with most economic data now in, there's not too much going forward in that regard which will push prices down that we don't already know.

In other words, there shouldn't be any surprises. But we'll see.

Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) Continue to Look Strong

Giant gold mining companies Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) and Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) (TSE:ABX) look like they'll continue to perform strongly going forward, as Newmont not only has three solid quarters in a row under their belt, but analysts think they're going to almost jump in earnings in the current quarter by just under 100 percent, looking for profits to grow by 93 percent.

Last quarter Barrick also had great earnings, increasing by 115 percent during that time, and that should continue on in this quarter as well.

Of course with any company generating earnings like that, it's hard to repeat it at that pace over any extended period of time, but there are sure to be some solid quarters into the future, as there are few barriers to keep gold from increasing in price going forward.

The only thing that could happen would be a correction whose timing could temporarily drive down earnings. That may be precipitated by those investing in gold that are jumping on the bandwagon without knowing what is driving the gold market.

In the long term, once gold investors enter the market after a prolonged period of upward price movement, they could drive prices up to speculative levels, which could cause a bubble.

The underlying fundamentals for gold are so strong though, that even that will be tempered when it happens, which is probably years away, although gold corrections will be part of the experience off and on while gold prices continue to move up overall.

Today's Gold Prices Bouncing Around

Gold prices have been swinging wildly today, as traders seem to be having some influence there, and the seemingly endless news concerning the EU sovereign debt crisis continues to move the metal up and down, along with other precious metals as well.

Gold prices today had reached almost $1,250, before pulling back to below yesterday's record. Now they've moved back up in the positive again, as the gold price swings continue.

Gold mining companies like Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) (TSE:ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) have moved in tandem with gold futures prices, something that has started to happen more often after gold broke its all-time record on Wednesday.

For some time, gold mining companies in general had been lagging behind the price of gold, and now for some, that time seems to have ended after gold broke through, and the news concerning European debt and China inflation continues to be a huge impetus behind the price of gold.

Exeter Resource (TSE:XRC) Looking for Buyers

Exeter Resource

Exeter Resource (TSE:XRC) has reportedly attracted significant interest in selling the company and its Caspiche gold-copper-silver project in Chile.

Along with some interest from the Chinese, other major gold companies interested are Newmont (NYSE:NEM), Barrick (TSE:ABX) and Kinross (TSE:K).

It could be a very good deal for either Kinross or Barrick, as they already have operations within 10 to 15 kilometers of the site.

To set up the sale of the company, Exeter spun off its Cerro Moro project - which produced gold and silver - into a new company.

The Caspiche project is a gold-copper porphyry system, which means it has similarities to some of the largest gold-copper mines in the world, which is a very attractive asset, which should ensure a sale sometime in the near future, with executives at Exeter thinking it could be sold by the end of the year.

Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) CEO: Gold Prices Surging

Gold Prices Rising

Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) CEO Richard O'Brien recently said he believes the misguided monetary policies of the governments around the world ensure gold prices will rise as inflation increases and currencies fall in value.

Consequently, O'Brien thinks gold could reach as high as $1,500 an ounce over the next several years, as the consequences of central banks printing money to allegedly stimulate their economies will come back to haunt them, saying, "The long-term impact of all the stimulus programs that we have seen in the U.S. and in European countries is going to come home to roost."

This year O'Brien sees gold trading in a range between $1,000 to $1,250.

Gold Prices Rising

Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) Growth Strategy

Goldcorp Growth Strategy

According to Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) CEO Charles Jeannes, the company could grow the company quicker than he is planning at this time, but lessons from major rivals like Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) give him a check on that, and he's look at a more modest doubling of gold production from now through about 2018.

From there, Jeannes said it'll be hard to see how there could be significant growth once they reach that level of production. He uses the metric of about 5 million ounces a year as the place where gold production growth gets difficult.

Jeannes is looking to reach 5 million ounces of gold production by around 2018.

Goldcorp Growth Strategy

Gold Company | Newmont Mining Corporation

Newmont Mining Corporation

Newmont Mining Corporation is one of the largest gold mining companies in the world, and was founded back in 1921. Just four years later it was listed for the first time on a public exchange.

Based in Denver, Colorado in the U.S., Newmont employs somewhere around 34,000 workers and/or contractors, with most of those in their base operations in Australia, Indonesia, Ghana, Peru and the United States.

Newmont Mining also has significant presence in Canada, New Zealand and Mexico, along with a number of smaller operations scattered around the world.

While mining jobs have slowed down some, the company still looks like it'll remain steady for workers going forward, as expectations that gold prices will rise before the year is out, and that could also spur more hiring from the gold mining company.

Smaller gold mining companies have been struggling, and while Newmont mining stock hasn't done much, there is a lot of hope it'll move in major way soon.

Newmont has impressed a number of people, and so much so that they're the only gold company at this time listed on the S&P 500 index, as well as the first gold mining company to be chosen to be a part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

When you think of a Newmont mine, you're thinking Newmont gold, and while that's primarily true, there are Newmont mines that are in the copper production business, mostly in the Batu Hijau operations in Indonesia.

At this time the Indonesian government has put a value on the Newmont Mining Corporation's unit in the country at $4.9 billion. Indonesia is seeking to acquire a portion of Newmarks' unit, and is in negotiations to possibly buy the entire division.

For the end of December 31, 2008, the mining company had an estimated 85 million equity ounces in reserve, and had an aggregate land position of about 38,840 square mile, or 100,600 square kilometers.

Going forword, the Newmont gold mining company is strongly positioned to take advantage of any upwards move in the price of gold.

Newmont Mining Corporation