The Canadian miner said operations were unaffected, adding it expects the issue to be resolved quickly.

The combined company, to be known as Kirkland Lake Gold, will have a market capitalization of about Cdn$2.4 billion and produce more than 500,000 ounces of the yellow metal a year.

Despite continued investment in copper assets on the continent from China and India hunting for coal mines.

The country’s state planner said it would also set up a no-coal zone in cities around Beijing in 2017 to try reducing the capital's hazardous smog levels.

The Canadian company’s plans in the Okanogan County are now on hold.

A credit upgrade, a rocketing share price and rally in coal and iron ore call into question downsizing strategy of world's number five miner.

Brent crude was up $2.76, or 6%, at $48.73 a barrel.

For investors who are both just beginning their foray into gold investment, and for those who have been long time proponents of gold, Sprott Senior Advisor John Embry breaks down the recent history of the U.S., highlighting the pressures that have brought fiat currency to the brink, U.S. debt liabilities to staggering heights, and gold back to the institutional investor’s crosshairs.

In a matter of hours, officials from the Argentinian province of San Juan will deliver a technical report that will seal the fate of Barrick Gold’s Veladero mine.