AuRico Gold Inc. announced today that it has taken up and paid for 36,144,578 common shares at a price of $8.30 per Share under the Company’s “modified Dutch auction” substantial issuer bid to purchase for cancellation up to $300,000,000 of its Shares.

First Mexican Gold Corp. amends the amount to be settled previously announced on December 17, 2012 and now has agreed, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, to convert $50,000 of debt for 714,286 shares, at $0.07 per share.

Mr. George A. Brown, President of MacMillan Minerals Inc., wishes to announce that the Company has completed the SEDAR filing of the Audited Financial Statements for the years ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 and the accompanying Management Discussion and Analysis.

SilverCrest Mines Inc. is pleased to announce an updated resource estimation for the La Joya Property in Durango, Mexico.

Last week, First Majestic Silver (TSX:FR,NYSE:AG) announced initial production from its Del Toro mine in Zacatecas, Mexico. This year, the company projects production of 11.1 to 11.7 million ounces. Of that amount, Del Toro is expected to contribute about 2 million ounces. The opening of Del Toro is yet another step toward the company’s goal of becoming a senior producer.

Gold producer Agnico-Eagle Limited announced that it has selected Q9 Networks to deliver high availability co-location services in support of its critical IT systems. These co-location services will be crucial for a new hybrid cloud solution, especially designed for Agnico-Eagle’s IT systems such as ERP, financial and web-based applications.

Highvista Gold Inc. is pleased to report that it closed a private placement financing for gross proceeds of $746,000 through the issuance of 3,820,000 units of the Company at a price of $0.20 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase one common share at an exercise price of $0.25 per share until January 25, 2015. In connection with the private placement, the Company paid a cash commission of $20,000 and issued non-transferable compensation warrants entitling the holder to subscribe for an aggregate of 100,000 common shares at a price of $0.20 per share until January 25, 2015. The securities comprising the units and underlying the broker warrants are subject to a statutory hold period that will expire on May 26, 2013.