(miningweekly.com) − Sydney-based Resource Capital Research (RCR) said it might be “a few years” before the recent gold records were surpassed, if the current market rout was a prelude to the next leg down in the global financial crisis.

In one of the worst selloffs since the 2008 financial crisis, gold fell sharply in recent days to below $1 600/oz, from an all-time high of $1 920/oz in early September.

In 2008, the gold price pulled back $288/oz, falling from $1 000/oz before the global financial crisis to a low of $712/oz, and did not return to $1 000/oz until September 2009.

From these lows, bullion prices subsequently rallied to between $1 200/oz and $1 900/oz.

“The safe-haven buying of gold is fear-generated, though this is irrelevant when investors are forced into liquidity-related selling. The recent bull market in gold has been fuelled by the fear associated primarily with massive deficit-driven stimulus spending in the US, and perhaps the biggest fear factor, festering eurozone sovereign debt concerns and the perceived risk to the stability of global financial markets,” RCR said.