Gold Prices, Imports, Nuggets, Goldman and Stimulus

Gold pushes towards $1,700 mark

India gold imports could plunge 25 percent on duty boost

Iamgold sees $2,500 an ounce for gold

Gold could soar to new high in two years

Germany bringing its gold home

Gold nugget found valued at over $300,000

Argonaut Gold surpasses production guidance

Will gold bull run continue?

Goldman sees gold plummeting to $1,200 by 2018

More stimulus? Philadelphia manufacturing contraction stirs hopes of more

African Barrick Gold looking at ways to slash costs

Alamos (AGI) (ABG) (CLF) (GUY) (AUY) (PAAS) (SSRI) Ratings Changes

Alamos Gold (AGI), African Barrick Gold (ABG), Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF), Guyana Goldfields (GUY), Yamana Gold (AUY), Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS) and Silver Standard Resources (SSRI) had ratings on them changed by analysts.

Investec upgraded African Barrick Gold (ABG) to a "Buy" rating.

Deutsche Bank upgraded Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) from a "Hold" rating to a "Buy" rating. They have a price target of $48.00 on the company.

RBC Capital upgraded Guyana Goldfields (GUY) from a "Sector Perform" rating to an "Outperform" rating. They have a price target of $6.00 on the company.

Davy downgraded Yamana Gold (AUY) from an "Outperform" rating to a "Neutral" rating.

Deutsche Bank downgraded Pan American Silver (PAAS) from a "Buy" rating to a "Hold" rating. They have a price target of $20.00 on the company.

Deutsche Bank downgraded Silver Standard Resources (SSRI) from a "Hold" rating to a "Sell" rating. They have a price target of $12.50 on the company.

Barrick (ABX), (AEM) (GG) (GFI) (ABGL) See Gold Cost Challenges

CEOs of Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Agnico Eagle (NYSE:AEM), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) and African Barrick Gold (ABGL) all recently said they see the rising costs of mining gold as a future challenge to the industry and their individual companies.

Even as the gold miners report stronger cash flows and good profits, costs are increasingly becoming an area of concern and some worry about the impact costs will have on capital expenditure

While the high price of silver, copper and other by-products of gold extraction have kept operating costs in check, miners are worried that capital spending on new projects will become unmanageable as labor, steel and energy costs keep pushing higher.

On top of that, gold miners have also suffered as the Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Chilean peso and Mexican peso have strengthened against the U.S. dollar. Sales of most miners are typically denominated in U.S. dollars, while costs are often based in local "commodity" currencies.

A catch-22 for the industry is its success as well, as outlying gold deposits which couldn't be mined in the past because of prohibitive costs are now able to be mined successfully, but it does cost more to do it, but gold demand forces companies to pursue the resource.

Another problem is the delayed reaction from greedy governments, which are now attempting to extract a larger portion of the earning of the companies because of out of control spending and making promises they can't keep.

The problem there is they're making decisions based on past performance and costs rather than what the companies are now, and will be facing in future years. That could also devastate and slow the industry down if the greedy politicians attempt to take even more from the miners.

African Barrick Gold (LSE:ABG) Becoming a Disaster

African Barrick Gold (LSE:ABG), the spin-off from Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), is becoming a disaster, as poor management and what appears to be a grossly incompetent human resources department are causing the company to lower production forecasts for the second time in the last 60 days or so.

The inability to protect their assets and hire good people has caused the gold miner to lower their gold production estimates from 800,000 to 850,000, down to 716,000. That was in relationship to the original numbers.

Gold production targets had been downwardly revised to 750,000-800,000 ounces in between that time.

Allegedly a criminal syndicate infiltrated the Buzwagi mine and stole fuel from the facility. Consequently 60 workers were suspended, along with several contractors.

Responding far too optimistically in our opinion, Numis Securities analyst Cailey Barker said in a research note, "We remain cautious in the short term on ABG but still remain firm on the longer term re-rating prospects from a low 1.1xNAV (net asset value), making this one of our key picks in the mid-tier gold sector."

I wouldn't touch this stock until the obvious corruption in the company is completely rooted out.

One step taken was to appoint a new general manager at the mine with 28 years of experience in mining, Boyd Timler.

But at this time it's not an experience issue, but a character issue. If African Barrick doesn't completely clean house, this will happen over and over again. Somebody is obviously turning their head the other way and allowing it to happen.

African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) Generates Profit, Lowers Guidance

African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) generated earnings of $99.2 million in the first half, a gain of over 200 percent over the first half of 2009, where they had a profit of $31.3 million.

Revenue for the quarter also has significant gains, reaching $423.8 million, or 68 percent. Last year they had revenue of $258.8 million.

The bad news is production guidance was lowered for the entire year, based on delays in accessing higher-grade primary ore at its Buzwagi project, in Tanzania.

Consequently, they lowered the production range from 800,000 to 850,000, to 750,000 to 800,000. Operational cost estimates were also raised from $450 to $500 a ton, to $500 and $550 a ton.

This will cut into revenue, earnings and margins for the rest of the year.

African Barrick Gold was spun off from Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) earlier this year.

David Einhorn Adds African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG), Increases Gold Exposure

David Einhorn, hedge fund manager of Greenlight Capital, said he's increasing his exposure to gold, and has bought African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) shares, primarily because they're lower priced than other miners.

Einhorn recently said at an investment meeting of Greenlight Capital, that 'We tend to think of gold as a currency, I think there's going to be a lot of inflation."

Citing the sovereign debt crisis in Greece, and by extension, the overall European Union, Einhorn added that Greece could be the initial signal that the "sovereign debt bubble" is bursting, and it could easily expand to the United States.

One problem Einhorn recognizes correctly, is the difficulty in finding out the real conditions of American banks, which he says in many cases are nowhere near capitalized enough.

That was pointed out recently in an article in the Wall Street Journal, which noted that even the usual practices of hiding the real numbers before a quarterly report seems to have prolificated with some of the major banks in the country, making it even harder to know they're real level of health.

All the more reason to invest in gold and gold miners.

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) Gets $887 Million in IPO

Barrick Gold IPO Results for Africa Barrick Gold

While it was a little disappointing and on the low end of what they had hoped for, Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) raised $887 million in their spinoff of their African buinsess named African Barrick Gold.

Barrick was able to sell 101 million shares in the new company for 575 pence each. The high end of what they had hoped for would have brought them 650 pence a share. The lower end was 550 pence a share, so it wasn't a disaster in that regard.

Africa Barrick Gold entails four mines in Tanzania at this time.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) Prices African Barrick Spinoff

African Barrick IPO

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) announced it will sell shares in African Barrick Gold spinoff for $8.70 each or 5.75 British pounds.

Barrick will sell approximately 101 million common shares in the offering, which at the above price will generate about $834 from the IPO.

They will retain a 75 percent stake in African Barrick Gold.

The reason for creating African Barrick was to get listed on the London Stock Exchange.

After the IPO Barricks will have a market capitalization of about $3.55 billion.