As the price of gold continued to increase rapidly, especially during the economic downturn following 2006, many analysts would look at a number and believe the price of gold would soon reach its peak. For example, it was believed that gold as an investment would falter in the middle of 2011, but investors in gold failed to listen and the price continued to increase reaching an all-time high of over $1,600 per ounce.

How much longer the price of gold will continue to increase is pure speculation as the amount of gold on the market due to mining is not anticipated to increase dramatically. However, many refining companies are continuing to bombard consumers with offers to buy their gold jewellery to be used as scrap and melted into bars, bringing more gold into the current market. That doesn’t alter the total amount of mined gold, but does affect the amount of gold in the market for other uses.

Gold is used in a variety of applications such as jewellery making, electronics and in the dental industry. As more gold is used in these industries the demand increases, followed by the price. It would seem that the amount of gold bought as scrap is not having the impact that many speculators believed it would have with the additional amount of gold available.

Another issue for investors is the confusion they may experience in the gold market. Shares in gold mining companies are sometimes confused as an investment in gold. It needs to be known that buying shares in mining companies, while possibly a good investment, is not the same as buying and physically owning the metal and shouldn’t be treated as such. It also needs to be understood that the price of gold does not necessarily reflect on the share price of a mining company’s stock.

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