Gold

The State of Alaska has filed a constitutional challenge in Alaska Superior Court to strike down a municipal ordinance recently enacted by ballot measure in Southwest Alaska's Lake & Peninsula Borough. By a margin of just 34 votes, local voters supported a ballot measure put forward by anti-Pebble activists that would restrict future development that affects more than one square mile of land within the 31,000 square mile borough.

Reuters reports leaders in Peru's Cajamarca region demanded on Wednesday that Newmont Mining and partner Buenaventura abandon their $4.8 billion Conga project after talks with the central government broke down. The president of Cajamarca said massive protests will be held next week. In October, Newmont was forced to briefly shut down adjacent Yanacocha, South America's largest gold mine over the protests. Conga would be the biggest investment ever in Peru mining and is a crucial test for the country's new president Ollanta Humala, who campaigned on ending conflicts over natural resources.

Perseus Mining (TSE:PRU), a West African gold explorer and miner, completed a Can$81.25 million equity offering. The offering, 25 million ordinary shares at Can$3.25 each, was underwritten by a syndicate of underwriters co-led by Clarus Securities Inc., Dundee Securities Ltd. and CIBC World Markets Inc. Funds will be used to develop the Sissingue gold deposit at the Tengréla Gold project, as well as for general corporate purposes.

South America-focused Yamana Gold (TSE:YRI) increased production and revenue targets for the third quarter, and rewarded shareholders with a 63% dividend increase. Toronto-based Yamana boosted production 4% to 279,274 gold-equivalent ounces (GEO) and brought in $555 million for the quarter — a 22% increase. Operating cash flow rose 57% to $330 million. The higher output came despite lower production at some of Yamana's mines in Brazil, Chile and Argentina. The best production figures came out of the El Peñón mine in Chile, which posted a 15% increase in GEO, and the Gualcamayo mine in Argentina, which marked a 17% improvement.

Shares of Randgold Resources, a pure-play gold mining company focused on west and central Africa, soared 7.4% Wednesday after announcing third quarter production increased 80% and sales jumped to $309.6 million from only $116.3 a year ago. Despite a once-off drop in gold sales from the previous quarter following instability at its Tongon mine in the Ivory Coast where it has been producing for one year and what it described as once in a century rainfall at its Loulo/Gounkoto operations in Mali, third-quarter income increased more than four-fold to $106.8 million.

Perth Mint announced that it minted a one-tonne gold bullion coin that is worth over $55 million. It is the world's largest gold bullion coin. The previous record holder was a coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. Dimensions of the coin are 80 centimetres wide and over 12 centimetres thick. Watch the video on how the coin was made.

The decision to hold a referendum on the euro zone debt deal is roiling the markets. S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 1.68%, and the TSX Venture Exchange has lost 2.65%. Spot gold fell from yesterday's close of $1,715.10 and is currently trading at $1,707/oz. Gold majors Newmont Mining declined 2.06% and Barrick Gold slid 2.16%. Prime Minister George Papandreou announced a surprise referendum on the euro zone deal that was reached last week.

A centuries-old Chinese gold coin has been unearthed in the Yukon. The Vancouver Sun reports that the coin, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1662 to 1722), was discovered by archeologists near the proposed Casino mine being developed by Western Copper and Gold Corp. (TSE:WRN).

For those who feel they need a little more security than buying gold through an exchange traded fund, the Royal Canadian Mint is offering exchange traded receipts backed by physical gold bullion held in the mint's facilities in Ottawa, Ontario. The Canadian mint, which announced this product on Friday, says that ETRs are different than other gold investment products since the purchaser of an ETR owns the actual gold rather than a unit or share in an entity that owns the gold. When someone buys an ETR, the money will be used to purchase gold at the London pm fix price on the closing date of the offering.