The price of gold blew past the $3,000 mark in early trading Friday as investors navigate market turbulence driven by escalating trade tensions and economic uncertainty. Billionaire hedge funder John Paulson has stacked his portfolio with gold miners.

According to Paulson & Company's latest 13F filing, the fund increased its position in International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (AMEX:THM) in the fourth quarter, adding over six million shares. The recent buys brought Paulson's total holdings to more than 70 million shares and a 37% stake in the mining company.

International Tower Hills Mines holds interests in the Livengood Gold Project, located northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska, in the Tolovana mining district within the Tintina gold belt. The company's stock has climbed more than 40% over the past month as the price of gold rallied.

Other Miner Holdings: Paulson & Co.'s other gold miner holdings include a $264.3 million stake in Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ:PPTA) and a $111 million stake in Novagold Resources Inc. (AMEX:NG).

Trilogy Metals Inc. (AMEX:TMQ), Seabridge Gold, Inc. (NYSE:SA), Equinox Gold Corp. (AMEX:EQX) and Iamgold Corp. (NYSE:IAG) round out the remainder of Paulson's gold mining holdings.

Paulson talked about de-dollarization and the benefits of owning gold in a 2023 interview with Alain Elkann.

"There has been a significant increase in demand from central banks to replace dollars with gold, and we're just at the beginning of that trend. Gold will go up and the dollar will go down, so you'd be better off keeping your investment reserves in gold at this point," Paulson said.

The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) ETF, which tracks the price of gold bullion, has gained nearly 40% over the past year.

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