Barrick Gold chief financial officer Jamie Sokalsky has claimed that Gold Prices could be set to rise as miners are struggling to maintain supply levels, Mining Weekly reports.

Precious metals consultancy GFMS suggested recently that global gold mine production decreased by three percent in the past 12 months to its lowest level for 12 years.

Mr. Sokalsky has explained that there are a number of factors which are limiting output, which will benefit anyone with a Gold Investment as lower supply and higher demand will drive up prices.

The news provider quoted him as saying: "The fact that it is getting harder to finance gold mines, it is clearly more difficult to find, permit and build the mines - they are more expensive and it takes longer - means that supply is likely to decline more than people think."

Mr. Sokalsky's comments come after Newcrest Mining, the world's second-largest gold producer, reported a 17 percent output decline for the third quarter of the 2009 financial year.

China also recently announced that it has increased its gold reserves steadily over the past six years and now has a total of over 1,000 tonnes.

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