By Rachelle Younglai
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of the froth has been blown off the top of the gold market, but that has not rattled the big producers who agree that prices are unlikely to drop to levels seen just before the millennium turned six years ago.
"We're living in very different times," Newmont Mining Corp.'s (NEM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Wayne Murdy told the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit in New York this week.
"We think there's still a long way left in this run. You look at the investment interest that gold has generated, and as an industry we've made investing in gold modern with the Exchange Traded Funds."
Exchange Traded Funds, or ETFs, are securities that give investors direct exposure to the precious metal without the hassle of storing or insuring the product. Experts say these investments have brought a new batch of players into the market, which helped drive gold to 26-year highs near $730 an ounce in mid-May.
That was its priciest level since January 1980, when bullion rose to a record $850 an ounce.
"Jewelry demand provides the floor of the price range and investment demand provides the ceiling," Bobby Godsell, the chief executive of the world's No. 3 gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANGJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said at the summit.
"I think that gold is going to hold its ground as an alternative store of value for institutions. ... It would seem to me that a prudent person would continue to make a bet on gold for part of their wealth," Godsell said.
The head of Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) also says this market "feels a little different this time." Continued...
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