Now this is what investors have been waiting for.

After some forgettable earnings from Canadian gold miners in the past week, Goldcorp Inc. and Yamana Gold Inc. have delivered very strong third-quarter results that came in ahead of expectations and showed that the companies are meeting their growth targets and cashing in on record-high gold prices.

Wednesday night, Vancouver-based Goldcorp reported adjusted net earnings of US$140-million, or US19¢ a share, beating the consensus analyst estimate of US16¢.

Most significant, the company raised its production guidance for 2009 to 2.4 million ounces (from 2.3 million) and lowered its cash cost guidance to US$300 an ounce (from US$365 an ounce). Goldcorp is getting a boost from rising base-metal prices, which are lowering its overall cost structure.

"We're very happy with the performance - both at the mines, as we exceed forecasts on production and perform better than expected on costs, but also on bringing along the new projects," chief executive Chuck Jeannes said in an interview.

Goldcorp is betting much of its future on the giant Penasquito mine in Mexico, and it continues to move toward steady production early next year. This week, the company started shipping lead and zinc concentrates from the mine.

Goldcorp also announced it will build a five-kilometre high-speed tram in order to develop its Cochenour deposit in Red Lake, Ont., its next major growth project after Penasquito.

The tram will connect Cochenour to the Red Lake mine.

Toronto-based Yamana delivered record quarterly production of more than 314,000 ounces, and did it at low cash costs on core mines of US$349 an ounce, and just US$79 once byproducts are included.

"I don't know if US$79 an ounce on a byproduct basis is the lowest in the industry, but I'd certainly suggest it's amongst the lowest," CEO Peter Marrone said in an interview.

The Goldcorp and Yamana earnings come on the heels of disappointing results from their peers Kinross Gold Corp. and Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., which are running into problems as they try to increase production by building and expanding mines.

While unexpected problems almost always happen when new mines are being built, Mr. Marrone said Yamana has minimized these issues by spending as much time as possible with its new projects to develop "predictability and reliability" in the ore bodies.

The company recently built its Gualcamayo mine in 20 months, and it was working in a new country (Argentina) and on difficult terrain on top of a mountain.

"When you have a growth company, there are going to be some vagaries as you get familiar with a deposit," he said.

"What we've been doing for the last four-to-six quarters is developing that reliability."

pkoven@nationalpost.com