What is certain is that during gold’s six years in the penalty box, the underlying forces that have made the metal a superior strategic investment over centuries have not been idle. The extrapolation of current conditions into unrealistic expectations is a dependable flaw of human nature. The capacity of physical gold and precious metals mining shares to absorb inflows has greatly diminished because of the prolonged attrition of investment interest. Once capital market flows revive, there is real potential in our opinion for parabolic upside in the metal and the shares.