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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold lost $17.80 to $2,018.40 on Friday. The TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.41 points to 530.85 while the TSX gold index fell 2.81 points to 284.52. Most Canadian-listed gold miners moved lower today. Novagold Resources Inc. (NG) has been silent for over two months, and while that silence was initially good -- the stock rose from $4.50 to nearly $6 by late November after all -- it has been a tough December: Novagold lost 30 cents to $4.62 on 2.58 million shares today.

On the other hand, a recent laggard, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM) had a better day, adding one cent to $10.31 on 10.31 million shares. The company has had to shut down its Cobre Panama mine because of pressure from Panamanians, and its right to run the big mine is in serious question. The company's lawyers, meanwhile, are busy mining new high-grade veins of litigation -- the latest of which includes two subparallel veins of arbitration -- the Canada-Panama free trade agreement and the International Chamber of Commerce arbitration process.

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