Gold hedging beginning to increase again?

One of the contributors to the low gold prices of the 1970s was substantial hedging of forward output by mining companies, either as corporate policy, or at the insistence of lending institutions who wished to protect their positions should the price fall further.

Conversely, a contributor to the rise in gold prices over the past few years has been very substantial de-hedging by, in particular, the gold majors, which has effectively soaked up some gold demand, as belief grew that the run up in the gold price had much further to go.