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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

New York spot gold closed down $13.10 to $1,199.70 Tuesday, as the U.S. dollar rallied. Commerzbank estimates that the price of gold will average $1,200 an ounce next year, while Citibank has a slightly higher prediction at $1,220. The TSX Venture Exchange lost 4.75 points to 720.27 and the TSX Gold Index lost 4.33 points to 149.31.

Canadian gold miners had a down day. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) lost 49 cents to $13.58, Goldcorp Inc. (G) dropped 81 cents to $23.25, Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI) lost 16 cents to $4.46 and Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD) fell 14 cents to $7.67.

Jeff Quartermaine's Perseus Mining Ltd. (PRU) lost 3.5 cents to 24 cents on 1.41 million shares. The company's Edikan gold mine in Ghana produced 68,000 ounces of gold (at $996 an ounce all-in) in the first four months of fiscal 2015 (July through November, 2014), but it is unlikely to keep it up. Ghana's national electricity provider has cut power to industrial companies by 25 per cent. The country is trying to deal with a power shortage that is worsening this year thanks of low water levels at its biggest hydroelectric dam. Ghana created a Ministry of Power in hopes of dealing with the shortage last month, and the cuts are its first attempt. Perseus hopes these rolling blackouts will be temporary. Edikan will receive power for six days, followed by two days of blackouts, during which the company plans to use expensive generators. Perseus says it is not sure how this will affect production, but it can hardly be positive. Frequent power cuts are part of doing business in Africa, and they have already been affecting Perseus. The company mined only 180,000 ounces of gold last year (ended June 31, 2014) down from 208,000 ounces a year earlier, while all-in cash costs climbed to $1,294, from $1,150. The company attributed most of its troubles to "unreliable power." Gold Fields Ltd., which will produce about 800,000 ounces of Ghanaian gold this year, says it always has diesel generators on standby.

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