Gold falls to earth and platinum miners cut costs

On Friday gold prices fell on strong job numbers from the U.S., noted mining audiences manager Michael McCrae. On Friday McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable. Friday was jobs day. The U.S. economy created 199,000 jobs last month, beating expectations. At the same time, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7%, down from 3.9% in October.The strong economy implied that the Fed is further away from easing. On the news gold prices hit a two-week low and silver a three-week.According to some analysts, Monday's rally and subsequent selloff was not helpful for gold's long-term price action. In mining news depressed platinum prices have forced miners to lay off workers. Anglo American is preparing to freeze spending on growth and widen job cuts in South Africa. Reuters reports that the miner is preparing to mothball some high-cost platinum mines. Last week Sibanye-Stillwater, the other major platinum producer, said it was cutting about 100 employees and 187 contract workers at its Stillwater West mine in MontanaPlatinum prices have declined 11% for the year.