EXPECTED mergers and acquisitions in a number of gold mining companies could be one of the reasons for the current rally in the gold price.
Gold Fields recently announced a $1.83m merger with Franco-Nevada. Barrick Gold, the world’s fourth producer after Gold Fields, has agreed to buy Tanzania’s Pangea Goldfields for R938M.
Gold prices have risen from 20-year lows and are trading between about $285 and $290 an ounce, up from $281 at the end of 1999.
Analysts speculate that US and South African firms are looking at Australian companies in a bid to acquire larger assets.