Gold and other commodities are perfect investment options for investors looking to diversify their portfolios. Gold futures are still at near all-time highs of roughly $2,100/oz. With inflation becoming less of a major issue and a strong likelihood that interest rate cuts will occur in the coming months, the price of gold will continue to climb.

The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDX), a major investment vehicle comprised of various gold-producing companies with over $12 billion in assets under management, has seen its overall price dip slightly over the past year. But, in the last month, it has climbed by 11%.

Below are three solid stocks that focus primarily on gold mining and also performed fairly well over the last year due to production increases and the surge in gold prices.

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Kinross Gold (KGC)

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Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) explores, develops and processes various gold properties in the U.S., Mauritania, Canada and Brazil.

It is a heavily traded stock that has seen solid growth over the past year. Due to higher gold production and the rise in the price of gold, its share price has increased by 48%.

It reported earnings for the fourth quarter of the full year 2023, which stated a 10% increase in total gold production for the full year 2023 compared to the full year 2022. And it was a slight decrease in production of 8% year-over-year.

Its largest producing mines in Mauritania and Chile experienced record production rates, but its North American mines didn’t perform as well.

Total revenue increased by 22% when compared to the previous year. A net loss was reported for Q4 2022 of $606 million; for Q4 2023, it was reported as a net income of $415 million.

Kinross is a solid option for investors seeking a highly traded company that provides decent returns and also offers a dividend yield of approximately 2.12% on an annual basis.

Eldorado Gold (EGO)

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Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) is a mining company that acquires and develops gold properties in Greece, Turkey and Canada.

In early January, Eldorado Gold announced that following its chief financial officer and executive vice president Phillip Yee’s retirement on Jan. 2, Paul Ferneyhough would take over those roles. With this leadership change, it will be interesting to see how it shapes the company in the future.

On Feb. 22, it reported earnings for the fourth quarter of the full year 2023, in which it stated that total revenue grew by 25% and free cash flow nearly tripled year over year.

Its total gold produced increased by 11% within the same time period due to strong output for all its mine locations.

Over the past year, its share price has increased by 36%. EGO has recovered following a drop in share price due to a report stating that its new Skouries project in Greece will require more capital to complete than expected, and a delayed timeline for the production was announced.

Eldorado Gold has still experienced substantial growth in other operations that will help the company overcome the difficulties surrounding its new project.

Harmony Gold Mining (HMY)

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Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY) is a South African gold mining company that owns and operates properties in Australia, South Africa and Papua New Guinea.

It is one of the best-performing gold stocks this past year, and its share price has more than doubled.

On Feb. 28, it reported earnings for the last six months of 2023, which stated that production profit rose by 25% and earnings per share tripled to 51 cents per share when compared to the six month period ended Dec. 31, 2022.

Due to its strong earnings results and the approval to continue to utilize its Mponeng Mine, Harmony has declared an interim dividend of approximately eight cents per share, which is on top of its quarterly dividend of eight cents per share as well.

Harmony Gold has shown impressive growth and has received positive news regarding one of its most profitable mine location. It has offered significant upside for investors, and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

As of this writing, Noah Bolton did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Noah has about a year of freelance writing experience. He’s worked with Investopedia dealing with topics such as the stock market and financial news.

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