Governments all over the world continue to quietly acquire very large quantities of gold and silver.  China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Mexico have been among the largest purchasers of precious metals lately; in fact, Mexico alone has added over 90 tonnes ( 1 metric tonne = 1000 Kilograms) of gold to their stockpile in the first quarter of 2011.  It’s pretty evident that these governments are attempting to protect themselves from potential increased inflation, devaluation of paper currencies, growing debt, and are diversifying their assets.  Perhaps we individual investors and/or prospectors should be doing the same, albeit on a much smaller scale.