The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that the price of gold is hitting fresh record highs, but the share prices of many gold producers are in the dumps. The Globe's David Berman writes that the underperformance looks like an opportunity. Gold rallied above $2,150 an ounce last week, for a gain of more than 17 per cent from its recent low in October. The latest upward move follows war in the Middle East, increasing nervousness over the coming U.S. presidential election and simmering unease with China's economy as its property downturn intensifies. You would not notice these bullish underpinnings in the stock market, though. The NYSE Arca Gold BUGS Index, a basket of gold producers, has slumped 15 per cent over the past three years, underperforming the price of gold by more than 38 percentage points over this period. Part of the problem are the high production costs for mining gold. At Barrick Gold, for example, the total cost to mine each ounce of gold in 2023 increased to $1,335, up 30 per cent from 2021. Gold stocks may also be unpopular at the moment given the allure of rival investments, such as bitcoin, which is embraced by some investors as a safe asset that can survive global economic mayhem.