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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold closed down $3.70 to $1,194.20 Friday, as the U.S. dollar climbed against the euro. Gold trading next week will be light. In Canada, the TSX Venture Exchange gained 11.05 points to 676.54, while the TSX Gold Index slipped 2.07 points to 145.69.

Major Canadian gold miners ended mostly down. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) lost 26 cents to $12.59, Goldcorp Inc. (G) dropped 54 cents to $21.30 and Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD) lost five cents to $7.37, while Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI) added 12 cents to $4.77.

Cary Pinkowski's Astur Gold Corp. (AST) dropped 4.5 cents to 2.5 cents on 1.00 million shares. The government of Asturias has rejected an amended environmental impact assessment for Astur's Salave gold mine in Spain. The company spent $20-million trying to modernize its pastproducing project, which included redesigning the mine plan to exclude cyanide and a tailings pond. These expensive changes were supposed to appease environmentalists and ensure government approval but they were not enough. Astur had been more than hopeful because in late 2012 the government of Asturias granted the project partial approval. That news boosted the then-30-cent stock over $1. Astur thought it had "tremendous local community support." It spent the past four years consulting, and included much advertising of future employment opportunities. The company says it received 11,000 job applications. (Lack of consultation was the reason Asturias revoked the Salave mining licence from the project's previous owner, Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN: $5.59), in 2004. Lundin gave up on Spain altogether in 2010, selling Salave to Astur for 500,000 euros and 5.29 million shares.) Mr. Pinkowski spent most of the past four years talking up his Salave support, but today he had a different tone. "Asturias has made a resounding statement that they are closed for business," he said, calling the decision a tragedy and noting that it would "deny the legitimate aspirations of 12,000 families relying on this economic initiative as one of the only emerging employment options in a region hit by economic crisis." Astur plans to sue.

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