GOLD got more shiny yesterday reaching a record high of $1500 per ounce near midday and then dropping back to $1495 an ounce which is also a new record.
Observers said yesterday that the rise in prices was  largely due to international investors opting for gold as a safe haven for their money in the face of events indicating  political or economic uncertainty.
“It is an investment which is the safest thing to do during upheavals. The major risk at the moment is that of the United States having its pristine credit rating lowered if politicians in Washington cannot agree on a plan to bring down the nation’s deficits over the long term,” one source said.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P), one of the three main agencies that rate the ability of companies and sovereign nations to repay their debts, lowered its outlook for America’s long-term credit rating to “negative” from “stable,” sources said yesterday – a rating, described by some as controversial, which is said to have triggered a further rush for gold as a safe haven, pushing the price further up.
It was said that the price spike occurred against the backdrop of market uncertainty that has sent investors looking for an alternative to the weak U.S. dollar.
Inflation — which gold is often used to hedge against — has been rising sharply in emerging economies and is becoming more of an issue in Europe and since the start  of the year, investors have been forced to consider the implications of a Japanese tsunami, earthquake and nuclear disaster.
That’s in addition to a spike in crude prices and a slew of revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.
According to CNN Money, Carlos Sanchez, director of commodities management at the New York-based firm, prices could go as high as $1,550 in the next couple of weeks as investors focus on political gridlock in Washington.
Declared production of gold in the first quarter of 2011 locally amounted to 74, 652 ounces, 4,848 less than projected.
Figures released by the Guyana  Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) disclosed that production in January amounted to 14,392 ounces, 12,108 ounces less than targeted and was largely responsible for the shortfall.
But production picked up in February with 26,846 ounces declared, 346 ounces above the targeted 26,500 ounces and gained momentum in March with 33,414 ounces declared or 26% over the projected target.
It is generally felt that local miners should do as much as they can to capitalize on the current high prices of the precious mineral.