TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Despite recent weakness interspersed with moderate gains, gold's status as a safe-haven investment in times of global uncertainty remains intact, Goldcorp president and CEO Kevin McArthur asserted on Friday.

However, in recent weeks, this attribute of the yellow metal had been "obscured" by "indiscriminate selling pressure".

Bullion has fallen from a record high in March this year of $1 030,80/oz, to around $721/oz on Friday afternoon.

However, Goldcorp has not changed its medium- and long-term views of the gold price, he told analysts and investors on a conference call to discuss the group's third-quarter performance.

“I continue to believe we will be seeing a four-digit gold price in the not-too-distant future.”

McArthur said at the Denver Gold Forum in September that he saw prices soaring to as high as $1 500/oz in the next 18 to 24 months.

His comments on Friday echoed similar statements by the heads of rivals Barrick, Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti, who have all said this week that they expect gold to rebound in the medium term.

Senior producer Gold Fields' CEO Nick Holland also said that he expects bullion prices could rescale the $1 000/oz mark in 2009.

However, Goldcorp is also responding to the current weakness in metals prices, and McArthur said on Friday that the group is very carefully reviewing its spending plans for next year.

"Clearly we're watching the markets...we've had quite a shock over the last couple of months," he said.

The group will prioritise its two biggest projects, the Penasquito mine in Mexico and its share of the Pueblo Viejo project, which it co-owns with Barrick Gold, but it is reviewing capital allocations across the board.

"Everything is on the table," McArthur said.

"We need to make sure that we allocate capital appropriately."

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