Has the correction in the precious metals-sector ended? Last week’s rally above a key short-term resistance level, the recent historic-extreme negative sentiment toward gold, and the breakout in several large-cap gold mining stocks suggest gold has likely registered an important low—and appears poised to continue to rise further. For several weeks, we have discussed several indicators and price-action suggesting gold’s correction from the August high could be in the process of bottoming. Since the early-March low, USD-gold is up 6.4%, and the gold mining-stocks (GDX) are up 17.6%. The 13D Gold Miners Index is up 21.8% from its low in February—and appears to be leading gold and GDX. In the February 14th WATMTU entitled, “It’s important to not lose sight of the big picture set-up in gold. Our long-term conviction remains firm”, we wrote as follows: “Gold advanced 7.5-fold from the March 2001 bottom to the September 2011 top. The uptrend featured numerous corrections and lengthy consolidations. The corrections ranged from -12% to as much as the -30% plunge during the 2008 GFC. Following each interim-top, the recovery to a new bull-market high in gold took about a year or longer. The gold mining-stocks (HUI) bottomed in November 2000 and advanced more than 18-fold to the September 2011 top. The bull-market featured deep pullbacks of -25%, -40%, -37% and -33%. Each of these corrections accompanied lengthy and frustrating consolidations that tested investor resolve. Following each interim-top, the recovery to a new bull-market high in HUI ranged from eight-months to two-years.