The great question now is whether the correction that followed was an end to that bull market—or just a lengthy corrective phase prior to another important bullish move. Let’s turn to technical analysis of the chart for a possible answer.

During the past month, two of our favorite sources of fundamental information for the precious metals markets have issued their summary reports looking ahead to the coming year.

The Federal Reserve just reported that inflation exceeded their 2% target for the first time in five years and the University of Michigan reported their inflationary expectations have now risen to 2.7%.

Given the enormous expenditures that are required to bring any mining property into production, the industry can ill afford a regulatory system which, by reversing already existent approvals, can nullify the value of funds already expended.