Gold

Canadian Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX:YRI) (NYSE:AUY)(LSE:YAU) announced a $400 million acquisition Monday of Argentina-focused junior miner Extorre Gold Mines (AMEX:XG) (TSX:XG), which has an appealing gold-silver project in the South American country, while also saying it plans to boost its dividend by 18%.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ministry of Mines went on the defensive on Monday about allegedly granting mining licenses to companies with close connections to the government. It qualified those accusations as uninformed and a “double standard."

Edgewater Exploration Ltd. arranges $120 million debt financing with Credit Suisse AG and Barclays Bank PLC to to develop the Corcoesto Gold Project, Galicia Spain.

The risk of a Greek exit from the Eurozone "has moved towards next year," and "markets will be concerned about how narrow the margin of victory" was for the pro-bailout party say analysts.

"Natural resources companies with a pipeline of, say, five projects in five different countries are now likely to build just two or three of those. Thus, executives have the power to cherry pick which combination of country and project offers the best returns."

Gold Fields Ltd. may have to settle for a shorter than planned mine life for a gold project in the Philippines due to permit restrictions, a government official said.

Mike Niehuser, founder of Beacon Rock Research, discusses the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Argentina in an interview with The Gold Report.

Nova Scotia's Natural Resources Minister, Charlie Parker, is supporting DDV Gold Ltd., an Australian gold company, over a family run Christmas tree farm that doesn't want its land expropriated and turned into an open pit mine.

Moderate net hedging by gold producers is expected for the full year, but GFMS-SocGen stressed that it did not mean a shift in management attitude towards hedging.