South Africa police standoff with illegal gold miners escalates
The police sealed off access to the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein several weeks ago to deny the miners access to food and other essentials.
MarketWatch reports gold futures lost ground in electronic trading Friday as the dollar strengthened against major rivals. Gold for August delivery declined $16.70, or 1.1%, to $1,486.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A stronger greenback tends to discourage investment in dollar-priced commodities such as gold. The precious metal was also pushed lower as some uncertainty about the euro zone’s debt problems lifted. Despite the recent weakness, gold prices remain over 5% higher this year. Silver followed gold lower Friday, dropping close to 3%.
Analysts at BNP Paribas said gold has been supported by inflationary pressures and some safe-haven buying as a result of the eurozone debt crisis.
“The surge in inflationary pressures goes a long way towards explaining the strong demand growth for gold, notably in India and China, as consumers seek to hedge themselves against rising prices,” the analysts said.
The analysts forecast the gold price to average $1,510 an ounce in 2011 and $1,600 an ounce in 2012.
