Here’s a chart of the popular mining ETF, GDX, relative to the spot gold price:

Source: stockcharts.com

A long-term chart of XAU index to gold shows the lowest value in 20 years except for the panic low in 2008:

Source: stockcharts.com via http://oilandgas-investments.com

Since last summer, this ratio has been bouncing around in a range not seen since the depths of the last bear market in late 2008 to early 2009.

Our own gold producer index is still slightly lower than before that crash, when gold topped out at $1000.

As a result of high metal prices and strong cash flows, we are now showing 66 miners that are actually paying dividends, a rarity in this industry:

http://miningalmanac.com/stock-lists/dividend-mining-companies

The entire minerals sector has performed very well in July, with precious metals stocks finally catching a bid, but industrial materials stocks have been the best performers of the year.

Here’s a chart of some of the strongest indices since the 2008 crash (pink: rare earths; purple: heavy minerals; blue: base metal producers; green: coal):

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Site tip: To compare indices in a single chart like this, go to http://miningalmanac.com/indices and select “compare” or just go to http://miningalmanac.com/indices/compare.

You can also compare any individual stock to the indices (or the gold price) by going to its pages and clicking on the “charts” tab:

Gold has marched steadily upwards for the last 12 months, but mining stock investors have had a more interesting ride, thrilling at first, but lately frustrating. Juniors all did spectacularly well during the summer and fall of 2010, but this year the stocks have consolidated their gains or drifted lower as gold has continued higher.

However, as gold approached the 1600 mark, miners and juniors alike have finally gotten a lift. Here is a chart of the gold price (blue), gold explorers (pink) and gold producers (green) for 2011:

It is too early to call a breakout of the downward trend, but I’ll be watching for one in the coming days. It is encouraging that the miners have continued this three week uptrend over the last few trading sessions as the broader equity indices have softened. Perhaps we are setting up for another great run once the summer doldrums are over.

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Site tip: You can compare any company to any of our indices or the gold price on the company’s charts page. Try it out with Newmont. Just select the indices you want to add to the chart from the list on the right.