Gold
The List of Global Tier 1 Gold Mining Companies
In this post, let me list some of the Tier 1 gold miners and a few copper miners. But before we get into the list, here are some interesting facts about gold:
- US Gold Reserves totaled 8,133.5 tons in September 2008, accounting for 76.5% of its forex reserves
- Japan holds 765.2 tons of gold which accounts to 1.9% of its forex reserves
- China’s gold reserves amounted to 1,054 tons in 2009 which was a 76% increase in six years and accounts for 1.9% of its forex reserves
- China surpassed South Africa as the world’s largest gold producer in 2007
- China beat India as the world’s largest gold consumer in 2009
From the World Gold Council:
“The value of gold, in terms of the real goods and services that it can buy, has remained largely stable for many years. In 1900, the gold price was $20.67/oz, which equates to about $503/oz in today’s prices. In the five years to end-December 2008, the price of gold averaged around $606. So the real price of gold has endured a century characterised by sweeping change and repeated geopolitical shocks and more than retained its purchasing power. In contrast, the real value of most currencies has generally declined.”
Some of the Global Tier1 Gold Miners are:
1. Company: Yamana Gold Inc (AUY)
Country: Canada
2. Company: GoldCorp Inc (GG)
Country: Canada
3. Company: Polyus Gold (OTC: OPYGY)
Country: Russia
4. Company: Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd (OTC: HGMCF)
Country: South Africa
5. Company: Lihir GOld (LIHR)
Country:Papua New Guinea
6. Company:AngloGold Ashanti(AU)
Country: South Africa
7. Company: Zijin Mining Group Ltd
Country: China
8. Company: Barrick Gold Inc (ABX)
Country: Canada
9. Company: Newcrest (OTC: NCMGY)
Country: Australia
10. Company: Gold Fields
Country: South Africa
11. Company: Kinross Gold Corp (KGC)
Country: Canada
12. Company: Newmont Mining Inc (NEM)
Country: USA
13. Company: Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN)
Country: Peru
14. Company: Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc (FCX)
Country: USA
For investors that prefer to invest in gold via an ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares Trust (GLD) offers one option. This ETF tracks the price of gold. The Trust’s allocated gold bullion is kept in the form of London Good Delivery bars with custodian HSBC Bank USA in its London vault or in the vaults of sub-custodians. The fund has $39B in assets and the expense ratio is 0.40%. Zijin Mining Group Ltd is one of the largest gold producers in China.
Charts from the GFMS Gold Survey 2009
The price of gold continues its upward march. It has reached $1,060 an ounce on Tuesday October 20th due to the weak US dollar and investors choosing gold as an alternative to holding dollars.
Reuters reports:
“U.S. gold futures for December delivery GCZ9 were at $1,065.6 per ounce, up nearly 1 percent from $1,058.10 in the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Last week, spot gold soared to an all-time high of $1,070.40 an ounce, while New York gold futures hit a record peak of $1,072 on the greenback’s weakness.
Near-term resistance is seen around $1,068, a level it took time to break through, when it hit a record high of $1.070.40 on Oct. 14. Support is seen at $1,055.43, the 10-day moving average.”
London,UK-based precious metals consultancy GFMS released the Gold Survey 2009 - Update 1 last month. Some of the charts from this report are presented below:
Gold Production
Gold Production - Winners and Losers
Gold Investors’ Net Positions
Top Gold Stocks Market Caps.
Top Gold Stocks’ Performance
The chart below shows the performance of the world’s top gold producers in the past ten months:
Source: GFMS Quarterly Newsletter, September 2009
To download the full presentation click: GFMS-Quarterly-Newsletter,September 2009
The World’s Top 10 Gold Stocks by Value
After setting a record above $1,000 an ounce during March 2008, Gold bullion prices have been volatile. Accordingly Gold stocks have been volatile as well during the past few months.Gold prices 5-year-char:
Since early Jun, gold stocks have been heading dowth. In the past 12 months gold stocks have lost their upward momentumas well.
A recent article Gold stocks: neutral to souring from Mineweb lists the most valuable listed The Top 10 Gold Stocks. This list includes:
Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX)
Goldcorp Inc. (GG)
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM)
Zijin
Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC)
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU)
Newcrest
Gold Fields
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM)
Zhongjin
As the Shanghai Composite Index has soared this year, Chinese gold miners Zijin and Zhongjin have made it to the list. The world’s largest gold miner is Barrick Gold of Canada. Currently Barrick (ABX) has a market cap. of about $28B. It has operations in North America, South America, Australia Pacific and Africa. The number two miner Goldcorp is also a Canadian mining company with a market of about $26B. Denver-based US miner Newmont Mining (NEM) has operations in five continents. Newmont is also one of the world’s largest gold producers. It is also the only gold company included in the S&P 500 Index and Fortune 500.
