You have to go back to 2002 to get a price lower than that. Declining gold prices from nearly $1,900 an ounce in 2011 to a range around $1,200 now have put the screws to miners' profitability. New accounting rules for the industry suggest that costs to produce an ounce are too high to justify more production in many places, costs which well exceed the current price of gold. That might mean a floor for the price of gold has been or will be forming near $1,200 as higher cost mines slow production. The average price per ounce in 2013 of $1,411 has fallen so far in 2014 to $1,282.
