When the market started to tank a couple years ago, gold started to soar. Then the SPOT price came down, even though gold was scarce. Mint that produce collectible gold coins were having to do lotteries, because they couldn't fill orders. If anything the "paper" gold price is inflated, because there is more paper gold than physical gold.

There is more gold out there to be had, but the price has to stay over a certain level for it to be worth extracting, much like the oil in Canada's tar sands or China's coal to oil plants.