This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold gained $26.60 to $1,188.50 Friday, ending the week up $10 as the U.S. dollar fell against other major currencies. The TSX Venture Exchange added 11.76 points to 776.63 and the TSX Gold Index rose 7.95 points to 147.74.

Major Canadian gold miners had an up day. Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI) climbed 51 cents to $8.54, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) rose $1.66 to $28.31, Goldcorp Inc. (G) climbed $1.14 to $23.04 and Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD) added 46 cents to $7.01.

John Brownlie's Marlin Gold Mining Ltd. (MLN), up four cents to 65 cents on 48,000 shares, is hoping it has found a way to bring down production costs at its La Trindad gold mine in Mexico, where production started this past summer. Marlin has arranged to pay its mining contractor $1.05 for each tonne of ore processed, or about $1.36-million a month. The company has prepaid its first month of mining, and it has also issued the contractor 1.2 million Marlin shares ($750,000). To date, the contractor has gone through 7.2 million tonnes of La Trinidad ore, but most of that was waste rock. Marlin has recovered just under 5,000 ounces of gold so far. The higher-grade ore, Mr. Brownlie says, is much deeper into the pit so, "I cannot stress enough how impactful this contract amendment is to our mining operations." Until the price of gold goes higher, Marlin has decided to sell only enough ounces to cover its costs. It will hold the rest in inventory, where it has 300 ounces right now.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS