The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, Jan. 9, edition that gold-mining deals are expected to rebound this year from a near-decade low as producers target assets at fire-sale prices after the metal plunged. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that gold miners are close to their cheapest relative to book value in at least two decades. Meanwhile producers will be enticed to replace some of the output lost when they sold or curtailed less-profitable mines, says Barclays analyst Paul Knight. He says, "Majors who have done portfolio optimization will look at some of the juniors and say, 'Here's a chance for us to acquire a potentially better asset than we've sold and to mitigate the loss of production.'" Goldcorp and Newmont Mining said in September they were evaluating the potential for deals to add low-cost operations. Single-project developers such as Pretium Resources and Torex Gold Resources may be attractive to larger companies, says Cowen & Co. analyst Adam Graf. Pretium's project in British Columbia has high grades, which will probably make it attractive to larger miners, says Pretium chief development officer Joe Ovsenek. He says Pretium is focused on developing the mine.