Gold Prices to be '$900 per oz on average in 2009'

The head of the world's second-largest gold producer suggested on Wednesday (March 11th) that he expects Gold Prices to average at least $900 per ounce this year, Reuters reports.

Richard O'Brien, chief executive officer of Newmont Mining Corporation, expressed his belief that the yellow metal will continue to be underpinned by growing investment demand.

Furthermore, he noted that the threat of inflation is pushing people to Buy Gold, while industry output is likely to continue its decline in 2009, thus creating greater demand.

Speaking at the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit in New York, Mr. O'Brien commented: "I will be surprised to see gold on average below $900 this year. Inflation is something the world has to deal with."

Mr. O'Brien added that the ongoing decrease in global supplies can be explained by the fact that there has been "no significant gold mine discovery" in the past few years.

Those comments were backed up last week by a team of analysts from Morgan Stanley, who suggested that gold investment will continue to rise on the back of "weaker equity performance".

Hussein Allidina, who led the team in their new report, told Bloomberg: "We still expect market conditions to favor gold prices, given uncertainty in both global and financial markets."

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