Lihir Gold , Newcrest Mining Ltd., Avoca Resources Ltd., and...

Lihir Gold , Newcrest Mining Ltd., Avoca Resources Ltd., and rival Australian gold producers are set for ``windfall'' gains as the value of the precious metal in Australian dollars climbed to a record as the local currency fell.

Bullion jumped A$89.88, to A$1,182 an ounce at in New York at close. The price surged after the U.S. dollar climbed to a four-year high against the Australian currency as the global credit freeze intensified concern that global growth is slowing. The CHART OF THE DAY plots the Australian dollar gold price against the nation's currency which yesterday fell to the lowest since September 2004.

``Australian-based gold producers have got a big windfall gold price to benefit from,'' Hunter Hillcoat, an analyst at Austock Securities Ltd. in Sydney, said today by phone. ``It will benefit any local producer and any company that reports in Australian dollars.''

Newcrest, Australia's largest gold producer, will have net income of A$467.5 million in the year ending June 30, 2009, according to the average of eight estimates compiled by Bloomberg, compared with A$134.3 million last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its 2009 fiscal year profit estimate for Newcrest by 47 percent Aug. 29 after the broker cut its forecast for the local currency. Australia is the world's third-largest bullion producer.

``It's a match made in heaven for the Aussie-dollar gold price,'' Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services Ltd., said today by phone from Sydney. ``U.S. dollar gold is holding up well in the wake of the onslaught in the firmness of the U.S. dollar and that has really helped now with the Aussie obviously just crashing.''