We hear calls of market manipulation and intervention and calls to abandon gold stocks and only own physical metal. We heard these calls in 2008-2009 and now we hear them again, which would only prove disastrous for those who heed such advice. The miners are not only extremely oversold but recent price action suggests a bottoming process is beginning.

The struggle of the mining stocks has surprised many including us. We thought record profits and a bullish environment would catapult the miners out of a consolidation and into a major breakout. The perception of an enduring recovery and the endurance and persistence of the wall of worry stage has left the gold stocks unloved and under-owned and for far longer than we expected. We do have to remember that the miners exploded in 2009 and 2010 and it is normal for a bull market to spend months in consolidation. As a result