Wishing to provide investors with a means of acquiring additional shares of the gold miner's common stock, AuRico Gold (NYSE: AUQ) said its board of directors declared it would be initiating -- effective immediately -- a dividend reinvestment plan that enables shareholders to reinvest the cash dividends paid on their stock.
The Drip program would feature a maximum 5% discount to the stock's current trading price, with any commissions or administrative costs generated by the plan borne by the miner.
AuRico intends to pay an annual dividend of $0.16 per common share, but paid in quarterly installments, with the first dividend having been paid on April 18 at a rate of $0.04 per share. Additional dividends are expected to be paid as follows:
| Record Date | Payment Date | Dividend |
| July 15 | July 29 | $0.04 |
| Oct. 11 | Oct. 29 | $0.04 |
| Jan. 14 | Jan. 29 | $0.04 |
Starting in 2014, however, the quarterly dividend will be linked to AuRico's operating cash flow, whereby it intends to pay out 20% of the OCF generated in the preceding quarter divided by the number of outstanding shares at the time the dividend is approved. Dividend payments are expected to be paid within three to four weeks following the release of AuRico's financial statements.
The $0.16-per-share annual dividend yields 3.1% based on the closing price of AuRico Gold's stock on June 10.
