While gold had a big run-up in price during the three-month stretch that ended in late February, the yellow metal has subsequently dropped back a bit, as have the prices of the leading mining shares. If anything, however, the reasons for gold bullishness have intensified.

Not much happened in gold on Tuesday. The top was in around 10:00 a.m. in London trading…just like Monday. From there it got sold off a bit…and the boyz in New York finished the job. Volume in gold yesterday was light…81,377 contracts less a switch effect of 4,870.

Gold tacked on about five bucks in early Far East trading before moving sideways through most of European trading. A small sell-off, starting just before the Comex open, ended with a bang at exactly 9:00 a.m. New York time. Within an hour, gold was up over $20 before a not-for-profit seller put an end to the festivities. The graph then took its usual turn to the right…and that was it for the rest of the trading day. Total estimated volume was 128,629 contracts, with a switch effect of 9,634.

Well, it should have been no surprise to anyone that the boyz were gunning for gold yesterday. The rally in Sydney was crushed the moment Hong Kong opened…and another rally attempt that started at 3:00 a.m. New York time, going into the London open, met with the same fate. Another rally attempt before the Comex opened was capped…and then crushed at the London close…and that was it for the day. Silver’s chart pattern was similar. It looks like a war zone on the Kitco gold and silver charts these last three days, as $900 gold and $12 silver are being tested by the bulls…only to be trashed by the bullion banks. Let’s see what happens in the days ahead now…

Australia’s minerals industry is booming.

But Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia sees two threats on the horizon that could derail Australia’s commodities boom. One possibility is that Australia’s boom will end where America’s depression begins. The other, more likely, scenario is an inflationary melt up.

The extent of the boom was underlined yesterday by an Australian government report predicting export earnings from commodities would rise a whopping 40% $201bn in the financial year to June 2009, led by a 48% surge in mineral exports to A$178bn — the biggest rise in four decades.

There are a lot of things we don’t know about the global economy. How high will the oil price go? How many billions more will be lost in the U.S. housing bust? Will the Reserve Bank Raise interest rates again?