While stock market corrections are fairly common and bear markets inevitable, the current bear market is unlike anything we've ever seen before. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has cost more than 39 million Americans their jobs, based on initial jobless claims filed over the previous nine weeks, and at one point, it erased 34% of the value of the S&P 500 in just 33 calendar days. As an investor of 21 years, I've probably followed no industry more closely than gold mining -- and without question, gold stocks have never been more compelling than they are right now.