The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that after years of "Will they or won't they?" talk, 2018 may finally be the year of consolidation among Canada's intermediate gold companies. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that mergers and acquisitions in the mining industry ticked higher in 2017 compared with the year before. However, deal-making activity is still a long way below the boom years of 2007 through 2011. An intermediate gold producer usually refers to one with yearly production between 300,000 and 750,000 ounces, and with a market cap of about $1.5-billion to $3.5-billion. Since senior gold producers such as Barrick Gold have been preoccupied with cleaning up -- as opposed to leveraging up -- their balance sheets over the past few years, intermediates have continued on as stand-alone companies longer than they might have in previous mining cycles. Gold prices have remained healthy, and some investor confidence has returned, even if the share prices of companies such as Barrick, Goldcorp and Newmont Mining remain well below their previous highs. Barrick has pared down its long-term debt to $6.3-billion from more than $12-billion in 2013, making it more likely to add some assets this year.