The good news is the price of gold is $100 per troy ounce higher than it was at this time last year. The bad news is the price of gold is $200 per troy ounce lower than it was five months ago.

The current per-ounce price is $1,180, which is up from $1,070 a year ago, but the price was $1,368, the highest it had been in 2016, as recently as the beginning of August. Six years ago the price of gold was $1,900 per troy ounce.

Silver closely mimicked gold in that it sold for $14 per troy ounce a year ago and rose to $21 in early August before dropping to $17 per troy ounce at the beginning of December. Six years ago, the price of silver was $49 per troy ounce.

Doug Belanger, president of Spokane-based Gold Reserve Inc., thinks uncertainty leading up to the U.S. presidential election contributed to gold and silver giving back some of their gains.

Moving into 2017, Belanger says now is a good time for mining companies to begin work on projects.

“Prices are higher and the equipment needed to build a mine is relatively cheap,” Belanger says. “If you’ve got some money and a mine, you’re in a sweet spot.”

For Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla Mining Co., a strong 2016 has buoyed optimism for the coming year, says Mike Westerlund, Hecla’s vice president of investor relations.

Hecla has silver mines in Idaho, Alaska, and Mexico, and is a gold producer with a mine in Quebec, Canada. 

Hecla reported third-quarter net income of $25.7 million, up sharply from a net loss of $10 million in the year earlier quarter. The company says sales were 71 percent higher in the latest quarter than in the year-earlier period, mainly due to a 67 percent increase in silver production and a 19 percent increase in gold production, as well as higher silver and gold prices. 

“Our free cash flow and strengthening balance sheet allow us to immediately invest in more innovation, exploration and high-return projects,” Westerlund says.

Gold Reserve hopes to begin developing soon what is believed to be the largest gold mine in the world. The company reached a settlement agreement with Venezuela in August over $777 million the South American nation owes the company.

Venezuela now is scheduled to make its first payment of $300 million on Dec. 15, two weeks later than previously had been agreed upon. Whether it can fulfill that agreement remains to be seen, because the country is in deep financial and political turmoil, and the International Monetary Fund projects its inflation will rise to above 1,600 percent next year.

In a press release announcing the amended agreement, Gold Reserve executives in the capital of Caracas, Venezuela, said they have been assured by the head of the People’s Power for Ecological Mining Development that the money owed is in place and Venezuela is “completing certain administrative actions” in preparation of transferring the money to Gold Reserve.

“This is an important event not only for Gold Reserve, but for Venezuela as it confirms to the mining and investment communities that you can do business in Venezuela and that it is indeed open for international business,” Gold Reserve chairman James H. Coleman said in the press release.

After Dec. 15, the next payment of $470 million is to be made on or before Jan. 3, 2017, $50 million on or before Jan. 31, 2017, $100 million on or before Feb. 28, 2017, and $90 million on or before June 30, 2017.

In September, Hecla announced it had acquired Spokane-based Mines Management Inc. for $46 million. The acquisition includes the Montanore Project, a large underdeveloped silver and gold project in Montana. Mines Management is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Hecla.

Also based in Coeur d’Alene, the New Jersey Mining Co., which owns and operates the New Jersey Mill in Kellogg, Idaho, has bought out minority shareholders in GF&H, a private company that held 374 acres of patented mining claims near Murray, Idaho.

New Jersey Mining President John Swallow told the Journal in September there’s also the potential for timber harvesting and for land swaps in 2017 given the location within and near U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Land.