This gold mining stock’s rising production is attracting international attention

Gold now trades at $1,240.70 U.S. an ounce. That’s up 32.7% from $935 a year ago, but down from its all-time high of $1,256.50 U.S., where it closed on June 18, 2010.

Investor fears about European sovereign debt — Greek and Spanish debt in particular — have been a major factor in gold’s recent rise. These fears are prompting more investors to buy gold and gold investments, because they believe gold will provide them with additional security.

(In a just-published issue of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing, we update our buy/sell/hold advice on a gold mining stock that has risen over 132% for us in the past year. That’s more than four times the rise in the price of gold. Read on to learn more.)

Gold mining stocks are the best way to profit from rising gold

We think gold could well move higher in the long term, although it will continue to be volatile. Aside from European debt fears, rising gold would mainly result from investor concern that low interest rates and government stimulus spending will spur inflation. That could prompt many investors to seek security by investing in gold.

The best way to profit from rising gold is by sticking with gold mining stocks, particularly shares of companies with rising production and strong prospects. Even so, because of their volatile nature, we continue to recommend that gold stocks only make up a limited portion of your portfolio’s resources segment.

This gold mining stock’s mines are all in politically stable areas

In the current Stock Pickers Digest, we’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on New Gold (symbol NGD on Toronto). The gold mining stock’s production is on the rise, and its international reputation is about to get a big boost.

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New Gold has three operating mines: the Mesquite mine in the U.S., the Cerro San Pedro mine in Mexico and the Peak mine in Australia. It also owns 30% of the El Morro copper/gold project in Chile and 100% of the New Afton gold/copper project in Kamloops, B.C.

The El Morro copper/gold project contains an estimated 4.7 million ounces of gold and 3.7 billion pounds of copper. Goldcorp owns the other 70%.

New Gold expects to produce a total of 330,000 to 360,000 ounces of gold this year. Production will probably rise to over 400,000 ounces in 2012, when its New Afton mine is scheduled to start up.

Addition to index should brighten New Gold’s prospects

New Gold has been added to the FTSE Gold Mine Index. FTSE is an independent company that is jointly owned by the U.K.-based Financial Times newspaper and the London Stock Exchange.

The company gains international exposure by being included in the index. As well, managers of mutual funds that track the FTSE Gold Mining Index will likely add it to their funds.

You can get our clear buy/sell/hold advice on New Gold and 19 other aggressive stocks in the latest issue of Stock Pickers Digest. What’s more, you can get this issue absolutely free when you subscribe today. Click here to learn how.