The patience of gold bugs is being tested – and I mean severely tested.

You have to be a true yellow-metal diehard to put up with this kind of abuse.

Yet they say good things come to those who wait.

Well, gold seems to have gone nowhere since 2013. In fact, the precious metal rose to $1,900 in 2011, then corrected to $1,200.

In late 2015, however, it bottomed at $1,050 and has been climbing on balance since. Gold stocks have done the same, bottoming shortly after, then rallying sharply. Despite their pullback from mid-2016, they're up nearly 80%.

I'd argue they're building up energy to spring much higher, as conditions continue to favor much loftier prices for the entire sector.