Another thing that occurs to me: Investors in bullion often seem to be the same people invested in gold mining, which is kind of contradictory, isn't it? After all, gold is valuable because it's rare, and yet there they are trying to find more of it...heh.

Here's a thought experiment. What if next year someone came out with some kind of satellite technology that could tell you with absolute certainty where to find gold, and by applying it, 20, 50, even 100 million oz. deposits started popping up like dandelions all over the world. Wouldn't help the price of gold very much would it, but think of the advantages if you could apply it to copper, zinc, iron and so on. No advantage to financial speculators of course, but a pretty good break for the people who actually use the stuff, which is to say, everyone.

ebear