Image Source: PixabayI recently spent five days in Toronto attending and speaking at two back-to-back mining conferences. The second was the truly massive PDAC conference. There’s an expression in the mining world: The PDAC Curse. But we may have seen the “curse” go into “reverse” this year, and that’s bullish for silver.PDAC stands for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Each year the PDAC mining conference is held in March in Toronto. It’s quite simply the world’s largest mining conference. It draws about 1,500 exhibitors, and some 25,000 delegates.The “curse” part comes from how shares of mining companies tend to go into a selloff around this time. No one really knows why. Maybe it’s just a certain amount of hype and buildup before the big event that later loses steam. But it doesn’t really matter because this tends to be a temporary phenomenon anyway.This year, though, the story was different. With gold screaming to $2,141 early on March 5, it was only about $10 away from its previous all-time high in early December at around $2,151. For its part, silver rallied from $22.35 up to $24.40, an 8.2% jump in just three trading days.Could this be the start of a new bull market? There are decent odds it is. Of course, we’ll never know for certain until we can look back on these last few days. One thing is sure: The sentiment remains terrible and that’s a positive sign. Even Bitcoin has been trading at all-time highs and excitement is barely to be found. There is so much pessimism.Moreover, virtually no one is participating. How do I know? Back in 1960, gold represented 5% of global financial assets. Today, even around $2,100, gold represents 0.6% of global financial assets. I expect there’s going to be some serious FOMO (fear of missing out) fueling some big rallies.This is how new bull markets are born. So, we at least have the right setup. If gold can break $2,151 and hold above, that may be it.I believe we are still close to the start of a new long-term bull market in precious metals. No one knows exactly when that will be – it may have already begun. But it’s only by being invested in advance that you can reap the most gains.My recommended action would be to consider buying silver.More By This Author:Top Picks 2024: Aya Gold & SilverThe Mining Life Cycle Agnico Eagle: A Core Holding For Gold Investors