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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold closed down $25.20 to $1,258.10 Thursday, its biggest one-day drop in weeks as the U.S. dollar rose. Investors are still digesting yesterday's Federal Reserve statement with some analysts projecting an interest-rate hike for the summer while others now say the Fed will wait until 2016. Here in Canada, the TSX Venture Exchange slipped a fraction to 667.11 and the TSX Gold Index lost 1.42 points to 186.64.

Major Canadian gold miners ended some higher, some lower. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) rose four cents to $41.24, Iamgold Corp. (IMG) rose two cents to $3.32, Goldcorp Inc. (G) fell 28 cents to $29.48 and Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI) lost seven cents to $5.09.

Fred Stanford's Torex Gold Resources Inc. (TXG) slipped four cents to $1.43 on 6.99 million shares. Costs to build the company's Morelos mine in Mexico are rising with Torex now budgeting $800-million, up from $725-million earlier. The mine is fully financed, thanks to president Stanford, who closed over $1.3-billion in financings over the past five years. (His most impressive money-raising week occurred last August, when he brought in just under $460-million over three days.) Torex attributes part of the recent $75-million increase to the relocation of a Mexican village. More families than expected are asking for new homes, and there has been a rise in costs per home to ensure community acceptance. Another factor, Mr. Stanford says, is social unrest. Gang violence in the state of Guerrero, the kidnapping and homicide capital of Mexico, has made it much more expensive to hire and retain construction workers. Torex spends heavily on security. Mr. Stanford is not taking any chances after gunmen stormed the project in 2011, forcing the company to suspend exploration for three weeks. Three weeks turned into three months as workers refused to go back to work. Torex has not had any trouble since it beefed up security. Even the local police have asked the company for help. Workers at Morelos started stockpiling ore last summer. Torex hopes to begin gold production in the fall.

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