TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The traditional supply and demand fundamentals that have determined the gold price in previous decades no longer apply, Barrick Gold chairperson and founder Peter Munk asserted on Wednesday.

Gold prices, which reached record highs above $1 520/oz on Wednesday, are being driven by investors looking for security, and looking to protect wealth, he said at the annual shareholders meeting of the world's biggest gold company.

Investment demand exceeded jewellery demand for gold in 2010 for the first time, and some analysts have suggested this puts the market in a precarious position, as prices could fall sharply if investor demand growth slowed or reversed.

But Munk insisted that the old dynamics of physical demand have lost their importance.

“Gold today is no longer related to a normal economic cycle of supply and demand, jewellery and Indian wedding seasons...” he said.