GOLD STOCKS NEWS - Gold stocks, as measured by the Market Vectors Gold Mining ETF (GDX), fell in mid-day trading, although various individual gold stocks did display strength - including Premier Gold Mines (PG.TSX). Canadian-based gold company, Premier Gold Mines, reported new drill results from its advanced-stage Hardrock gold project in the Geraldton area of Canada. The GDX, an ETF that tracks a basket of the world’s largest gold stocks, followed the gold price lower by dropping $0.56 to $44.01 per share. Meanwhile, shares of Premier Gold advanced C$0.08, or 2.2%, to C$3.75 as investors purchased the company’s shares following the positive drill results at Hardrock.

With today’s decline, the GDX remains 20.5% below its 52-week high of $55.40 per share, reached in early December 2009 when the gold price hit an all-time high of $1,226.50 per ounce. While several of the largest gold stocks and GDX components across the globe reported earnings last week - including Canadian-based Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), Barrick Gold (ABX), and Kinross Gold (KGC) - investors are now focused on the upcoming releases of gold production and earnings figures from numerous small- and mid-cap gold stocks. Many of these smaller gold stocks have provided investors with enhanced leverage to the gold price and have significantly outperformed the large-cap gold stocks referenced above over the past 52 weeks. For example, shares of Premier Gold Mines have risen 65.9% compared to a gain of 19.7% for the GDX.

Premier Gold Mines controls the Hardrock Project under a joint venture with Goldstone Resources (GRC.TSX), in which Premier owns a 70% interest. Hardrock is host to several past-producing mines, which together produced close to 3 million ounces of gold, mainly from shallow depths within 600 meters of surface between 1938 and 1968. In its latest announcement, the Canadian-based gold company reported that step-out drilling at depth - which included the deepest hole drilled in Premier’s history to test the North Zone horizon - returned multiple zones of gold mineralization, including the best intercept drilled to date. Drilling has continued to define high-grade gold within several sub-zones of the main North Zone below the bottom level of this historically mined gold camp.

Highlights from the Hardrock results included drill hole MM092 - which represented the initial hole from which additional wedge holes will be drilled - and also hole MM092A (the first wedge hole), each of which has intersected multiple lenses of gold mineralization. Combined, the three zones included in the results assayed 5.37 grams per ton (g/t) of gold across 57.1 meters. Furthermore, Premier Gold Mines stated that drilling tested the North Zone deeper and along strike from initial deep drilling that returned multiple high-grade intersections, including intercepts of 39.20 g/t of gold across 4.8 meters, 8.41 g/t of gold across 22.9 meters and 10.05 g/t of gold across 24.2 meters - which according to the gold company further confirmed that the North Zone is wide open for expansion at depth.

Premier Gold Mines went on to say that four drills are presently active at Hardrock, testing both open pit and underground type targets. Multiple potential open pit zones have been delineated and will be included in an NI43-101 compliant resource estimate, which Premier expects to be completed in the near future. Infrastructure around the Hardrock Project is excellent; with the Trans-Canada Highway and Trans-Canada Pipeline close by and major power lines running through the property. Hardrock’s location and its infrastructure advantages will help lower capital expenditures and enhance the profitability of this future gold mine.