Gold is the standard by which all things are judged ie the "gold standard" . Much is made of the gold silver ratio . I would like to have you consider the gold copper ratio . Why ? Because copper is the ultimate industrial metal . When Gold hit its all time high of $2100 per ounce copper was aprox. $3.50 per pound . As of today gold is $1800 per ounce and copper $4.15 per pound  . This means gold is down about 15% from its high yet is up 30% . This represents a huge compression of the ratio . Why ?

My take on this is that right now copper is more useful than gold . Well if copper is outpacing gold on a relative basis just mine more copper . Not that easy . Copper mines are harder to build . Small fact , most copper comes from 20 to thirty mega projects in hard to reach places . Why does this matter ? Because we need copper to build the world we want to live in . As a novice investor in mining stocks a few things become apparent . Mining is very capital intensive and it takes years if not decades to build a profitable mine . Gold mines can be made in short term copper mines not so . 

What does that mean to you humble investor..that is for you to figure out but to me it means copper is a better investment than gold.