An Israel Bonds leadership task force was in the country last week for a three-day visit during which they met with politicians including Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson, Education Minister Yuli Tamir and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu. The government has given the organization a goal of raising $1b. per year and Israel Bonds CEO and President Joshua Matza informed Hirchson of the success of this year's campaign during last week's meeting.

"We are the major providers of foreign capital for Israel's infrastructure and among the least expensive in terms of interest rates in international markets," Matza said.

Hirchson told the group the economy is growing even after the war and thanked them for their support during and after the conflict and added that Israel bonds would be an important partner in his plan to narrow social gaps in Israel.

The delegation traveled to the North during the visit, which was the organization's first since the summer's conflict, bringing a "human element" to the war that had spurred their campaign.

The task force included members of the organization's leadership and board members and newer investors who have recently started promoting bond investments in their communities.

The organization embarked on a nationwide campaign in August, in the midst of the war, to boost bond purchases, which traditionally are used by US investors as an expression of support for Israel.

"Bonds are not a substitute for direct investment, but a lot of people who would buy companies in Israel or invest in groups here also buy bonds," Rothstein said. "It's kind of a measure of connection and support for Israel to be a bond holder. If you look at a Jewish American activist, it's almost inevitable they own bonds, it's just part of their credentials."

"We're probably in the middle innings of this current route," he said in a keynote address to the 112th annual meeting of the Northwest Mining Association.

The 1,500-member group is meeting for the first time outside of Spokane, Wash., to try to draw more involvement from members in Nevada, the third largest producer of gold in the world behind South Africa and Australia, sponsors said. The theme of the three-day convention is "Sustaining the Boom."

"I believe we are in a super-cycle of extended high metals prices spurred by demand from China and to a lesser extent India," said Laura E. Skaer, the association's executive director.

"Most up cycles historically have been based on development and consumption primarily in the United States," she said.

But now, the U.S. population of 300 million is dwarfed by China's 1.3 billion and India's 900 million "and they've got a taste of what we have, the fruits of civilization, like computers and cell phones," Skaer said.

Stewart said in his speech that the industry's challenges include inflation, shortages of labor and supplies, and barriers that discourage entry into the business, such as the permit process, capital costs and access to property.

The price of gold is about $640 an ounce today after bottoming out around $275 an ounce.

"We were all trying to figure out how we were going to stay alive," he recalled when he last addressed the convention in 2000.

Since 1800, the industry's average boom and bust cycles have averaged about 10 years - the last downward trend lasting 14 years from 1986-2000, Stewart said.

Even though production levels are down, the value of gold being purchased today is up 47 percent from a year ago, he said.

"So there is still a considerable amount of demand there for the product, and we see good reason to believe this demand will continue," Stewart said.

He predicted the industry will continue to consolidate, with competitive advantages shifting from the largest companies to those with the most growth.

"Size is no longer the most important value driver in our business," he said.

From 2000-06, there have been almost $40 billion in consolidation transactions involving gold alone, he said. This year, it's close to $16 billion, he said.

"Ultimately, it strengthens our industry. It shows stakeholders we are going to be in business a long time," he said.

The industry is spending $7.1 billion a year on exploration, up from about $2.6 billion a few years ago, he said. About half of that exploration is for gold, 30 percent on copper and other base metals and about 20 percent on other minerals, such as diamonds and uranium, he said.

Inflation is taking its bite with overall costs up about 25 percent, including a 25 percent increase in the price of steel and energy costs up about 40 percent, Stewart said.

"The industry's challenge is to try to maintain a low-cost profile," he said.

The costs of regulation and environmental protection also are rising, he said.

"In the court of public opinion, we are ranked along with our lowest or poorest performers. We owe it to ourselves to police ourselves," he said.

Stewart said the continued appetite in the Asian market for U.S. dollars is keeping the value of the dollar higher than it really should be in a free market. But that could change, he said, noting that China has only 1.5 percent of its reserves in gold bullion, compared with most of Europe which has about 15 percent in gold reserves.

If China were to raise its gold reserves to the 15 percent level, it would have to purchase 8,000 tons of gold, he said.

"So all the signals are the gold price could be higher or really much higher. All the factors are there."

The secondary impacts of the industry's economic success was evident Wednesday by the more than 200 exhibitors who joined the more than 1,200 pre-registered attendees.

"We're busy," said Kenny Brown, who works in Elko for the Montrose, Colo.-based Connors Drilling LLC.

Delhur Industries Inc., based in Port Angeles, Wash., and Hermiston, Ore., builds tailings ponds and heap leach pads to process minerals at mines across much of the West.

"With the boom, you need more ponds and leach pads," said John Doyle, its vice president for operations.

John Sangster of Riggins, Idaho, said his Miners supply company for geologists, engineers and surveyors has lagged behind the boom a bit.

"It's been so-so. It's coming," he said. "We notice pretty much like everybody else most of the business seems to be overseas."