Is it Time to Take Profits? Experts Share Gold and Silver Strategies in
Optimism was building at last year’s Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC), with fresh capital flowing back into the mining sector, lifting project financings and investor portfolios alike.
This year’s VRIC, which ran from January 25 to 26, saw that optimism tip into outright exuberance.
Record-breaking gold and silver prices drew a larger, more diverse crowd, while speakers openly compared the current market to the great bull runs of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Yet beneath the enthusiasm, a note of caution emerged. While few questioned the strength of the rally, debates centered on whether the move is still in the early innings or edging closer to bubble territory.
Gold, silver and the need to take profits
Precious metals were front and center throughout VRIC.
The price of gold crossed the US$5,200 per ounce mark during the show, and silver’s incredible run peaked at US$116 per ounce, gaining more than 250 percent since January 2025.
Over the past couple of years, gold’s shine has been brought about by significant central bank buying. Considered the ultimate buy-and-hold participants, these entities have been acquiring large quantities of gold for several reasons, including runaway global debt and concerns over the weaponization of the US dollar.
Central bank purchases, along with geopolitical and financial uncertainty, have helped to revive a beleaguered retail segment, effectively pouring gasoline onto the fire.
For silver, structural shortages that have developed over the past several years came into focus and were exacerbated by a surge of investors seeking a cheaper physical asset alternative to gold.
Flashpoints in the Middle East, a simmering trade war driven by tariff threats, disrupted supply lines and currency devaluation have also helped bring the monetary aspects of gold and silver to the forefront.
In the 2026 “Gold Forecast” panel at VRIC, Gold Royalty (NYSEAMERICAN:GROY) Chair and CEO David Garofalo explained why precious metals were one of the best-performing asset classes last year.
“Gold has been a one-way trade for 50 years … the purchasing power of our dollars has gone down 99 percent over that period of time. The negative correlation between the gold price and the purchasing power of our underlying currencies is undeniable,” he said, adding that “gold can only go in one direction.”
Garofalo added that the debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 350 percent in 2025 from 100 percent in the 1970s, creating a “ticking time bomb” that leaves central banks with no wiggle room to raise interest rates. “Gold can only go in one direction in that market because there is a limited supply of gold. Gold can’t be printed,” Garofalo said.
With those circumstances in mind, how high can gold and silver prices go? There were differing perspectives throughout the conference on whether precious metals are in a bull market or a bubble.
At the “This Isn’t Our…
