I understand the point the author is making and if you use the examples he provides, Barrick and or a basket like GDX, he would be correct. But like anything else, when it comes to investing, particularly in stocks, it depends not only when you buy, But WHAT you buy. If you look at NEM instead of Barrick, the results are significantly better and were one to have bought Royal Gold(RGLD), a gold royalty company, not a miner, and held, your returns have been off the charts. The point is, any generalizations about investing, particularly stock investing,  always comes down to the specific stock and company fundamentals as well as when you buy and what timeframe you hold for.                                                              https://goldseek.com/article/gold-stocks-are-worse-gold