A great link g_minus.  Here's a few key excerpts

A great link g_minus.  Here's a few key excerpts from the recent 2014 link.

"Investment bankers see gold-mining deals rebounding this year from a near-decade low as producers target assets at fire-sale prices after the metal plunged."

"Gold-mining companies are close to their cheapest relative to book value in at least two decades, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile producers will be enticed to replace some of the output lost when they sold or curtailed less-profitable mines, said Barclays Plc’s Paul Knight."

"While gold deals declined, there were signs of a resurgence of activity in December as the value of transactions reached the highest monthly level since February. Goldcorp Inc. (G) and Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) , the second- and third-largest producers by market value, said in September they were evaluating the potential for deals to add low-cost operations."

“We’ll see activity in the gold sector increase regardless of what happens with the gold price,” Mike Boyd , the head of global M&A at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said by phone. “People will want to pursue consolidation and try to drive down their cost structures.”

And I like this one the best....

analysts Anita Soni and Ralph M. Profiti said in a note yesterday.

"At the same time, exploration and development companies, which generally rely on regular financings if their projects aren’t yet generating revenue, may have more incentive to sell themselves."