Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY), NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG), Royal Gold (Nasdaq:RGLD), Allied Nevada Gold (AMEX:ANV) in 2010

In this batch of gold companies, it's more mixed than some of the others, as two closed out Friday down and the other two ended positive. They are Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY), NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG), Royal Gold (Nasdaq:RGLD) and Allied Nevada Gold (AMEX:ANV). We'll look at how they did overall in 2010.

Spot gold and gold futures ended the year with a bang, as spot gold soared to over $1,420 an ounce.

Yamana Gold ended the year at $12.80, gaining $0.11 on December 31, up 0.87 percent. The company had a 52-week trading range of $9.16 to $13.123. They ended the year with a market cap of $9.49 billion. Yamana continues to frustrate true believers, who continue to think it's vastly undervalued and one of the gold miners expected to break out, but never seems to do it.

NovaGold Resources closed the year out at $14.27, losing $0.11 on the last trading day, down 0.76 percent. The trading range for 2010 was from $4.96 to $16.90. They ended the year with a market cap of $3.22 billion.

Royal Gold, a precious metals royalty company, finished off the year at $54.63, rising $0.23 on Friday, a gain of 0.42 percent. The 2010 trading range for them was $41.19 to $55.22. They closed off the year with a market cap of $3.02 billion.

Allied Nevada Gold ended 2010 at $26.31, losing $0.02 on the final trading day of the year, down 0..08 percent. Their range for the year was $11.57 to $26.79, reaching the top end of the range on December 31. Their market cap heading into 2011 is $2.34 billion.