commodity super cycle boom
We are commodity hogs in the USA...consuming far more per capita than the rest of the world....oil, grains, metals, lumber, etc.
Consider this...there are 300 million Americans today. Total World population is 6.6 billion today....What will happen to prices of "hard" assets once the rest of the world begins to consume like Americans do? (already in progress)
It's no wonder that miners are in a mad rush to increase reserves and stake more property...
One more point. Americans do not respect the precious metals culturally like people in other countries. (India, China, for example) As per-capita wealth increases globally, the demand for gold should rise exponentially.