Citibank thinks gradual increase to $US2,000/oz gold price is likely

Despite losing a bit of its sheen over the last couple of days as investors shifted to riskier assets, gold bulls are still expecting prices of their favourite precious metal to rise.

Gold slipped from a close of $US1,748.98 an ounce on May 20 to the current price of $US1,711.50, or about $2,547.1 an ounce as the Australian dollar gained strength against its US counterpart.

Despite this, Citibank has joined the bulls who believe that gold could climb to all-time highs.

Commodity analysts at the US bank say that while gold prices are expected to average $US1,715 an ounce in the second half of 2020, they see gold prices pushing to $US2,000 an ounce in the medium term with prices expected to average $US1,925 an ounce in 2021.

This is in line with AngloGold Ashanti chief executive officer Kelvin Dushnisky’s belief that gold could very well rise beyond the $US2,000 an ounce mark.

However, Citibank expects gold to grind its way up gradually rather than spiking suddenly.

Citibank says rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China along with ongoing uncertainty around the global economy will support safe-haven demand for gold.

READ: Guy on Rocks: The forecasters seriously underestimated gold, iron ore

The bank also believes that silver will have its heyday, forecasting that prices could rise from the current $US17.12 to $US22 in the third quarter as industrial demand starts to pick up.

ASX small cap gold news

Tesoro Resources’ (ASX:TSO) drilling continues to extend mineralisation at its El Zorro project in Chile with the intersection of more wide, high-grade gold zones.

Top results are a 4.3m interval at 7.25 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 146.7m including 2.3m at 13.3g/t gold from 146.7m that extends high-grade mineralisation within the CC500 fault 50m to the northwest, while two other holes confirm wide gold zones within the CC375, CC400 and CC450 faults.

Notable results in the latter three faults include 5.2m at 6.97g/t gold from 161.8m in CC400 and 121.55m at 1.32g/t gold from 49m, including 12.27m at 4.98g/t gold from 148m in the CC450 to CC425 fault zones.

A preliminary independent review by Cube Consulting has confirmed the company’s geological model that higher-grade gold is associated with the CC structures.

Mithril Resources (ASX:MTH) has completed the acquisition of Sun Minerals, which holds an exclusive option to acquire up to 100 per cent in the high-grade Copalquin gold-silver project in Mexico.

Historical drilling results from this project include hits of up to 17.77m at 45.16g/t gold and 118.2g/t silver from a depth of just 30.98m.

Copalquin lies within the Sierra Madre gold-silver trend that hosts several world-class gold and silver projects including Coeur Mining’s Palmarejo and Agnico Eagles’ Pinos Altos mines.

Mexico is also the world’s largest producer of silver and a top producer of gold, copper, zinc and other minerals.

Meanwhile, Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI) is moving to acquire up to a 70 per cent interest in the Otway project just 50km from its flagship Warrawoona gold project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Previous exploration at Otway returned encouraging copper intersections.

While these were not analysed for gold, subsequent rock chip and trench sampling returned grades of up to 13g/t in trenches along strike of the drilling.