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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold dropped $8.40 to $1,241 Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar rose against the euro on reports 11 European banks are about to fail a European Central Bank stress test. Here in Canada, the TSX Venture Exchange lost 14.27 points to 808 and the TSX Gold Index lost 5.31 points to 159.66.

Larger Canadian gold miners had a down day. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) dropped $1.60 to $32.37, Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD) lost 27 cents to $7.69, Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI) lost 21 cents to $6.22 and Goldcorp Inc. (G) fell 99 cents to $25.08.

Kinross Gold Corp. (K) lost 14 cents to $3.12 on 4.71 million shares, after arranging to sell its Fruta del Norte gold deposit in Ecuador to Lukas Lundin's Fortress Minerals Corp. (FST: $4.75) for $250-million (U.S.). Fortress will pay up to $190-million in cash and the rest in shares. The sale is undoubtedly a sour reminder for Kinross shareholders. The company paid $1.2-billion to acquire Fruta del Norte's owner, Aurelian Resources Inc., in 2008. It gave up on the project in June, 2013, when the Ecuadorian government levied a much-talked-about 70-per-cent windfall tax on large mines. The sale should not have been a shock to anyone. Kinross had tentatively agreed to the large windfall tax in December, 2011, signing a "non-binding agreement in principle," which then-president Tye Burt called a milestone. He was not pleased about the tax, but he said the non-binding agreement would lead to further negotiations during which Kinross could arrange a more-favourable deal. The government did not budge, and Kinross was forced to write down Frute del Norte by $720-million last year. (This came on top of a $270-million impairment for property, plant, equipment and goodwill, which Kinross incurred in 2010.) Last month, rumours began surfacing that Ecuador had given Kinross permission to sell Fruta del Norte.

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