The resurgence of gold mining company, Golden Star Resources (GSS), continues as the West-African gold miner announced gold sales for the full year 2009 and provided gold sales guidance for 2010. During a year that saw the gold price reach a new all-time high, the gold miner sold a record 409,902 ounces of gold - surpassing its gold production forecast of 405,000 ounces and a 38.5% rise over gold production in 2008. The continuation of impressive results from Golden Star has fueled a 166% rise in the company’s share price over the past 52 weeks - providing investors with the leverage to the gold price they seek when investing in gold mining companies.

Golden Star went on to provide a breakdown of gold sales by mine, which consisted of 223,848 ounces from the company’s Wassa gold mine and 186,054 ounces from its Bogoso-Prestea gold mine, both located in southwest Ghana. This gold production represents an increase of 78.5% and 9.1% over 2008 gold sales at the Wassa and Bogoso-Prestea gold mines, respectively. The gold mining company also reported that the costs associated with gold production, while subject to audit, are in-line with Golden Star’s previously released 2009 guidance of $565 per ounce of gold.

Tom Mair, Golden Star’s President and CEO, commented that “Golden Star surpassed its production guidance with nearly 410,000 ounces sold during the year. We are very pleased with the progress that has been made. In addition, during the fourth quarter of 2009, the Company has now produced over two million ounces of gold since becoming a producer in 1999. This is a significant milestone in our development and we have struck gold and silver commemorative coins to mark this achievement.”

Going forward, the gold mining company provided 2010 gold production guidance of 400,000 ounces at a cash operating cost of $585 per ounce. Golden Star also announced the breakdown of gold production by mine - its Bogoso-Prestea gold mine is expected to produce 200,000 ounces of gold, all from sulfide operations, at an average cash operating cost of $650 per ounce - while its Wassa gold operation is estimated to produce 200,000 ounces of gold at a cash operating cost of $520 per ounce in 2010.

Macquarie analyst Pierre Vaillancourt, who has a “outperform” rating on the gold stock and sees 45% appreciation to his target price, cited the receipt of environmental permits for the Prestea oxide pits as the catalyst for Golden Star to “add 100,000 ounces annually at the property.” He also referenced the fact that “Golden Star has an attractive valuation, trading at 3.7x 2010 cash flow per share, compared to the peer group average of 8.7x.”