Paulson’s right: gold producers must fix their bad M&A habits

Earlier this week, a fully loaded Brinks truck carrying between $3 million and $5 million in uncirculated loonies and toonies crashed on a snow covered highway in Ontario, Canada.

Ecometals Limited announced after the market close on Friday that is has been forced to give Ecuador Capital Corporation more time to come up with a final payment of $1,750,000 for its Condor Gold Project in Ecuador.

White Tiger Gold (TSX:WTG) is worth only one-tenth of what it was last year and news out late on Friday will do little to restore investor confidence in the Canada-Russia gold miner.

Production at Blanket in Zimbabwe doubled and the Toronto-based company said it paid direct and indirect taxes, royalties, licence fees, levies and other monies to the Government of Zimbabwe totalling $13,6 million.

Prime minister and president-elect Vladimir Putin heads a government commission that has sweeping authority over foreign investment in companies like Polyus Gold, whose gold reserves are considered strategic by the state.

Gold prices climbed on Friday as the dollar fell to the lowest rate in a month against several currencies.

Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY) traded today at a new 52-week low of $10.58. So far today approximately 1 million shares have been exchanged, as compared to an average 30-day volume of 2.1 million shares.

Freegold Ventures Limited (TSX: FVL, Frankfurt: FR4N) ("Freegold") is pleased to report the results of a NI43-101 compliant Mineral Resource estimate recently completed on the Vinasale Gold Project located in southwest Alaska on which Freegold entered into an Exploration Agreement with an Option to Lease the Vinasale Project from Doyon Limited, an Alaskan Native Regional Corporation, in 2007.

Russia's central bank sold off about $200 million of gold in February, according to a report from the Financial Times.