Gold price above $5,200/oz: risk and planning notes for mine project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Gold prices broke above $5,200/oz on Monday, with spot gold up nearly 2% to $5,205.06/oz and silver gaining 3% to over $88/oz, as markets reacted to US trade policy uncertainty and Middle East tensions. President Donald Trump’s plan for a new 15% global tariff following a Supreme Court ruling against his emergency powers has pushed investors towards bullion over sovereign bonds and major currencies. OCBC strategist Vasu Menon expects further price volatility, with any escalation in US–Iran nuclear talks likely to add additional safe-haven demand.
Technical Brief
- Spot gold’s move above $5,200/oz marks its highest level in nearly one month.
- Monday’s price action followed three consecutive weeks of gains in the gold market.
- The metal is recovering from a sharp early-January sell-off that erased prior gains.
- Structural support cited includes persistent geopolitical tensions and reduced appetite for sovereign bonds.
- Investor wariness of major currencies is explicitly identified as a medium-term bullish factor for bullion.
- Vasu Menon of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. warns of short-term volatility after recent sharp gains.
- Traders are watching US–Iran nuclear talks this week as they enter a “critical juncture”.
- A potential US military operation against Iran is flagged as a scenario that could further lift gold.
Our Take
With gold now above $5,200/oz after already touching records around $4,500/oz in late 2025, our database shows a sustained safe-haven regime rather than a one-off spike, which typically underpins more aggressive reserve conversion and marginal project studies for gold developers.
Silver moving past $88/oz alongside gold echoes the late-2025 pattern where both metals rallied together; this tandem move usually improves project economics for polymetallic gold–silver deposits, especially in the Americas and Middle East where many Projects-tagged stories in our coverage are located.
The new 15% US global tariff comes on top of the tariff risks flagged in the 23 December 2025 copper-price piece, signalling that US trade policy is now a structural driver in our Mining coverage and likely to be baked into long-term price decks and contract terms for gold and silver offtake from US-facing producers.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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