Government is getting in the way, to be sure. But certainly the lower cost of crude everywhere is slowing things down.
I know of a large gold mine that wants to get going here in Alaska, they need a certain price of gold to be economically feasable. Until gold reaches a higher price and stays there, it aint happening. There is gold there for sure, just costs too much to get it.
Nixon fork the mine? Worked there a few years.