Three Gold Stocks Set to Rally in 2009

Randgold Resources Ltd. (GOLD), Gold Fields Limited (GFI), Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC) and other gold stocks rallied as investors looked to hedge against inflation. The U.S. dollar weakened against other currencies after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to help encourage economic activity, which led to a rally in many commodities including gold.

Investors purchase gold for their portfolios in order to hedge against inflation and a declining dollar while also using it as a safe-haven during times of instability. Prices have also been helped by a fall in mine supply, a slowing of central bank sales, ongoing de-hedging by producers, firm demand from ETFs, and a likely recovery in jewelry demand. Meanwhile, banks taking major short positions on the Comex market in New York may also be forced to cover their positions after the market’s recent rally.

Many analysts are also very bullish on the prospects of gold going forward. Goldman Sachs raised its near-term gold forecast on expectations for a weaker dollar and as interest in the precious metal as a safe-haven from risk continues to keep prices moving higher. The bank raised its three-month forecast to $700 an ounce from $690 while also raising its full-year prices to $795 from $710 an ounce. Studies at the bank have shown that gold moves opposite the dollar 90 percent of the time.

Companies like Randgold Resources, Gold Fields, and Kinross Gold could benefit from the rise in prices as it will both increase the value of its current reserves as well as provide funding for future exploration activity. Of course, higher prices also help increase revenues, drive profits, and improve the balance sheet. Moreover, bigger miners like the companies offer a combination of safety and profitability given the fact that they are well-capitalized and trading at near-record low price to net present value multiples.

So, how can investors leverage their position while taking on less risk? One way may be to purchase long-term options called LEAPS (long-term equity anticipation securities). While not available on all securities, these options enable long-term investors to purchase rights to a stock at a set price and time in the future for a much lower upfront payment than purchasing the underlying stock outright. See “Using LEAPS as a Stock Substitute” for more information.

Disclosure: No position in stocks mentioned.

Comments

[GoldRunner:]

Kings, Goldcorp bite into rich 'donut'
Kings Minerals, as well as Cerro Del Gallo regarding past intercepts, location and size of the deposit. The deposit starts at surface and is open at depth. There are 3 geological domains present which may or may not be included in the mine plan. Based on the previous history of management. PJO, BOLNISI ect....Kings Minerals are conservative miners and look at the big picture and have been working at San Anton since 2004.


Managing director Dudley Leitch said the company had previously thought the gold-rich zone was discontinuous, but these results indicated otherwise.

"We now believe that the gold zone extends right around the central felsic intrusion," he said. "That makes it pretty significant.

"The annulus is basically like a circular zone or donut. In the middle is the core, which is a granitic-type of material and surrounding that, roughly 80m wide, is the part of the donut that you eat and it goes right around this intrusion. The distance from one side of the donut to the other is roughly a kilometre north-south and east-west so it's a big feature."

Leitch added that the centre of the annulus might yet warrant mining itself.

"We may well take the whole thing, not just the annulus," he said.

"There's enough evidence to suggest that the core part of the donut is reasonably well mineralised."

Meanwhile, drilling at Cerro del Gallo continues to focus on the annulus, with a view to obtaining further samples for metallurgical test work and better defining the resource.

The project currently contains a known resource of 165Mt at 0.5gpt gold, 16gpt silver and 0.12% copper at a cut-off grade of 0.8gpt gold equivalent. According to Kings, however, the system remains open laterally and at depth.

Following the completion of a scoping study by Intermet Engineering earlier this year, the joint venture partners put a $US265 million ($A351.8 million) price tag on the development of an openpit mine at Cerro del Gallo.

The proposed operation would have an initial lifespan of 11 years and produce more than 180,000 ounces of gold, 6.1 million ounces of silver and 14,000t of copper per year.

Brisbane-based Kings holds a 51% stake in Cerro del Gallo, while Goldcorp, the Canadian gold miner that is the most profitable in the world, owns the remaining stake.




KINGS Minerals and Goldcorp have been buoyed by results from drilling at their jointly owned Cerro del Gallo gold-silver-copper project in Mexico that they say suggest the continuity of a gold-rich annulus, or "donut"-shaped feature, within the wider mineralised system.



ASX-listed Kings released the results to the market yesterday, highlighting in particular holes returning intervals of 145.8m grading 1.51 grams of gold per tonne, 12gpt of silver and 0.08% copper (1.89gpt gold equivalent) from 12.2m; 302.9m at 0.69gpt gold, 10gpt silver and 0.1% copper (1.09gpt gold equivalent) from 3.1m; and 111.25m at 1.17gpt gold, 4gpt silver and 0.04% copper (1.33gpt gold equivalent) from surface.


----------------------...
Resource Category Tonnes Au Ag Cu Au Ag Cu
millions g/t g/t % Moz Moz Mlbs
______________________...
Gold Domain
----------------------...
Measured 129 0.54 12 0.09 2.2 50 250
----------------------...
Indicated 80 0.38 8 0.08 1.0 21 140
----------------------...
Meas/Indicated 209 0.48 11 0.08 3.2 71 391
----------------------...

To date, two main phases of preliminary metallurgical work have been completed. The flotation test work indicates that copper can be recovered to a saleable grade concentrate from the Copper and Gold Zone material. At the same time, results from the leach test work indicates that gold is readily recoverable using a cyanide leach process with good kinetics.



In 2007, Golder Associates carried out a series of pit optimization studies which indicate that potential pits already contain a significant resource and have a very low strip ratio of 0.44. Preliminary metallurgical recoveries were assumed at 80% for gold and silver, and 85% for copper.

Work has also commenced on some of the other higher grade exploration targets elsewhere on the San Anton Property. The main target is the Carmen-Providencia vein system, a north-northwest trending low sulphidation epithermal silver-gold system located approximately two kilometers west of Cerro del Gallo and traceable on surface for three kilometers. First pass drilling designed to test the upper levels of the epithermal vein systems is now completed with encouraging results from the Dolores and Empalizada prospects including 4.6m grading 428g/t Ag and 3.52g/t Au, 1.5m grading 590g/t Ag and 3.40g/t Au, and 7.6m grading 168g/t Ag and 1.51g/t Au.



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Jan 11 08:11 PM