Barrick (ABX) Positioned for Long-Term Profitability

Barrick Gold is not just among the largest gold miners, but is one of the best producers in the sector as well for shareholders.

The giant gold miner has been able to successfully lower costs after a time when they struggled being a high cost gold producer. They have also risen to the challenge of replacing their reserve base while lowering those costs.

Also of note is Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resources are growing while Proven and Probable Reserves are being replaced

The company has spun off high cost and high risk project projects while the lower cost mines were being brought online, putting the company in a strong position to produce and compete in the years ahead.

After the selloff it looks like shares of the company were oversold and the stock is probably ready to start to climb upwards again.

Barrick closed Monday at $50.32, gaining $0.92, or 1.86 percent.

Freeport (NYSE:FCX) Gets Debt Upgraded from Fitch Ratings

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) had its debt rating upgraded by Fitch Ratings, with its issuer default rating being raised from "BBB-" to "BBB."

Fitch based its upgrade on the reduction of debt, elimination of preferred shares, and the increased outlook for the generation of cash flow by the company.

Freeport is a major producer of gold and the largest publicly traded copper company.

The debt ratings increase included Freeport's subsidiary Phelps Dodge Corp. Fitch sees the debt ratings outlook for Freeport as remaining stable.

Freeport closed Tuesday at $97.66, gaining $1.42, or 1.48 percent.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) Raises Agnico (NYSE:AEM) Price Target

Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) had its price target raised by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), increasing it to $79. Agnico was up to $64.74, gaining gaining $0.03, or 0.05 percent, at 3:21 PM EDT.

Credit Suisse had a price target of $75 a share on the gold miner before their increase.

In a note to clients, Credit Suisse said, "On Sept. 8, 2010, AEM provided an update on its 2010 exploration program. Our target price of $79.00/sh has been revised upwards from $75.00 based on increase to our DCF to $52.54 a share from $49.81 a share previously. The DCF revision results from additional ounces mined in our model. We apply a target P/NAV multiple of 1.5 times our DCF. We have revised our 2010 EPS upward to $1.46 from $1.40 as a result of marking to market our commodity prices, partially offset by an increase in exploration expense. Our 2011 and 2012 EPS were revised to $1.69 and $2.64 from $1.79 and $2.72 based on higher exploration expense."

Credit Suisse said AEM has been held back by the ignoring of its exploration over the past 18 months, saying start-up issues have for the most part now been taken care of.

Once investors realize that they see the share price rising to the estimated level.

Randgold (Nasdaq:GOLD) Upbeat on Production

Randgold (Nasdaq:GOLD) says it should beat its gold production for 2009, which came in at 488.255 ounces, although they didn't give specific numbers or guidance to where they think production could rise to.

But looking into the years ahead, Randgold said they estimate by the end of 2014 gold production should reach about 1.2 million.

This isn't a bad outlook when you consider some of the recent challenges they've had, including higher costs at their Loulo, Mali flagship mine, production issues and other significant setbacks.

Production is the strength of Randgold at this time, as the gold miner is increasingly find quality deposits, which point to more grams of gold found per ton of ore they mine.

So if they can get things under better control operationally and with costs, they could be a solid company in the years ahead.

Eldorado Gold (TSE:ELD) Increases Gold Production Guidance

Eldorado Gold (TSE:ELD) (NYSE:EGO) quarterly production results encouraged the company to increase its gold production guidance of 550,000 to 600,000 ounces to 575,000 to 625,000 ounces for 2010.

The gold mining company generated record production in the quarter of 164,928 ounces of gold at a cost of $371 an ounce, with all mines doing well.

For the first quarter Eldorado also sold 57,459 ounces of gold, with cash operating costs of $296 an ounce.

Eldorado will continue to look for expansion through exploration, committing $35 million of their budget to it.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC), AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Underperforming Peers

When Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) and AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) can't excel in the hot gold market, you know there are some issues with the companies, as they've widely underperformed their competitors during the gold bull run.

Kinross does have some potential if they can take their approximate $1 billion in cash and equivalents, which they received when selling a portion of their stake in Cerro Casale stake to Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), and invest it in quality projects.

AngloGold Ashanti has a lot of challenges as their gold production decreases from quarter to quarter, while cost continue to rise, especially those they have no control over like royalties and tariffs.

AngloGold said cost will increase 10 percent to $660 an ounce, while production in the first quarter will fall again, this time by about 9 percent.

Agnico-Eagle (TSE:AEM): Gold Mining Growth

Sean Boyd, Agnico-Eagle (TSE:AEM) (NYSE:AEM) vice chairman and CEO, said in a recent interview that the challenge for gold miners going forward is going to be growth, and it seems that it will come primarily from mergers and acquisitions, rather than organically.

Other trends seen by Boyd is the continuation of the current trend of searching for gold deposits which include a significant amount of other metals.

Even so, management will have to be careful not to give the impression of abandoning gold, so will have to keep that as their mainstay while generating revenue from other resources.

Boyd also believes that gold mining stocks will catch up and surpass gold itself in performance, as investors recognize they're increasingly able to increase earnings per share via cash flow.

Kinross Gold (TSE:K) Profits Surge

Kinross Gold (TSE:K) surged 45 percent in the first quarter as gold prices continued to rise.

Earnings grew to $110.6 million, or 16 cents a share. Last year during the same quarter Kinross earnings came to $76.5 million, or 11 cents a share. That exceeded analysts expectations of 14 cents a share.

Revenue for the quarter increased to $657.6 million as gold prices rose from $897 an ounce to $1,065 an ounce. Gold production for Kinross grew to 544,134 ounces.

Production cost an ounce came to $461, a 10 percent rise over last year.

Guidance from Kinross was confirmed at production levels of 2.2 million ounces of gold at prices of $460 to 490 an ounce.

Yamana Gold (TSE:YRI) Production Up 50 Percent by 2012

Yamana Gold (TSE:YRI) (NYSE:AUY) CEO Peter Marrone confirmed today that gold-equivalent production for the company will increase by close to 50 percent by the end of 2012, giving shareholders another reason to be glad the have a stake in the company, although for some reason it continues to be a laggard in price.

Gold-equivalent refers to gold and silver production.

Three new projects will be brought online during that time, all of them being funded organically and not through borrowing.

Two of the mines - C1 Santa Luz and Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique - are located in Brazil, and the third is its Mercedes gold/silver Mexican project.

Yamana reported yesterday first-quarter earnings of $79.5 million.

Yamana is the industry leader in cost per ounce with a miniscule $161 an ounce.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) Beats Profit Estimates

Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM)(ASX:NEM) exceeded analysts' estimates as first-quarter profits surged 46 percent on increased selling prices of gold.

According to CEO and President Richard O'Brien, performance for the quarter was based on growing demand and tighter supply, which should ensure bullish prices going forward.

on the conference call, O'Brien said, "Fundamentals including evidence of a rebounding market in India and growth from the jewelry market in China, plus sustained flows and historically low central bank sales continue to support gold price performance."

Net earnings for the quarter climbed to $743 million, or $1.11 a share, a major increase over the $277 million, or 40 cents a share last year in the same quarter.

Revenue grew 46 percent to $2.24 billion on sales of 1.33 million ounces of gold for the quarter. That was an increase from the 1.26 million ounces sold last year.

The average price of gold sold for the quarter grew 22 percent to $1,106 an ounce, with cost in relationship to sale stood at $480 an ounce.

Goldcorp (TSE:G) Upgraded to "Action List" by Toronto-Dominion Bank

Toronto-Dominion Bank analyst Greg Barnes upgraded Goldcorp (TSE:G)(NYSE:GG) to "Action List," which reflects the top stocks in the opinion of the bank.

Barnes gave the following reason as to why Goldcorp was upgraded, as “given our view of the company’s low political risk profile, conservative balance sheet, and low cost production.”

Goldcorp is of course always among the low-cost gold producers in the world, given them a strong competitive advantage.

Minsur (MINi.LM) to Produce Gold at Pucamarca Mine

The largest tin miner in Peru, Minsur (MINi.LM), announced it will start producing gold in 2010 at its Pucamarca mine.

Expectations are gold production will start sometime in the last quarter of 2010.

Projections are the mine should produce about 70,000 ounces of gold on an annual basis.

Minsur also operates one of the largest tin mines in the world, San Rafael.

Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY) Shuttering Three Shafts in South Africa

Harmony Gold Closes Three Shafts at Virginia Project

Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY) is closing down three of its shafts at the Virginia project in South Africa, affecting close to 3,700 workers.

The particular shafts being shut down have been mined for about 60 years, and according to CEO Graham Briggs, have "reached the end of their lives.”

About 10 percent of those working at Harmony Gold were part of the Virginia operations, and they will either be offered transfer, early retirement or retraining.

Costs for extracting gold has increased at the shafts while the amount of gold is shrinking, as they had to go deeper in to get the gold, raising the costs of doing business.

Top Gold State in America

Many people, even Americans, may be surprised by which state is the top gold producer in the country, as it's usually known for its glitzy entertainment and gambling, and of course that state is Nevada.

Not only is Nevada the top gold producing state in the U.S., it's the top gold producer by a huge margin, accounting for 82 percent of all gold produced in the country.

And even with the huge deposits found and reported on in other countries, Nevada would still rank as the fourth-largest producer of gold in the world if it was a nation of its own.

The largest trading partner of Nevada in 2009 was Switzerland, which they exported $2.8 billion in goods to, most of that being gold.

Top Gold Producing State in America

Is Golden Star Resources (AMEX:GSS) Still Shining?

Golden Star Resources

Golden Star Resources (AMEX:GSS) has had a nice run over the last 12 months, increasing in share price from $1.17 to as high as $4.39, and settling in at about $3.80 as of this writing.

There are some good fundamentals related to Golden Star, one of the best being its organic growth strategy and putting money into increasing exploration. The company also increased its reserves in 2009 by 14 percent.

One question going forward in 2010 for Golden Star is its costs, which it has said will increase over 2009 costs, which of course affects earnings. They also have said production will probably be a little lower in 2010 than in 2009.

Taken altogether, Golden Star is still attractive, especially with the economic circumstances and policies of central banks around to world to keep the paper money printing presses running. But at the upper end of its 52-week high, it's hard to see it increasing a lot in price in 2010, although if it drops more it may be a good buying opportunity, as they're pretty well positioned to profit as things settle down more and they increase production and manage costs a little better.

Oceana Gold (TSE:OGC) Closes Hedge Book

Oceana Gold closing hedge book

Oceana Gold (TSE:OGC), like its competitors, has closed its hedge book, signaling their belief a stronger gold price is here to stay for some time.

After closing its hedge book this week, Oceana will generate around $2 million in free cash flow a week, assuming gold prices will stay at $1,100 or above; which is definitely has a good chance of doing, as evidenced by finding support in a very difficult economic environment in Europe, where the sovereign debt crisis weakened the euro and strengthened the U.S. dollar, putting downward pressure on gold prices.

Chief operating officer, Mark Cadzow, said, "Oceana is now in a position to present itself as an unhedged gold producer, and a significant one at that, at a time when gold is pretty strong and people are still looking for a safe haven."