Gold Spiralling Prices

The world markets have been recently tumbling over the sub-prime issue that hit the US. Stocks and even the USD currency have been making a downward trend which worries me. Previously, I was once told by an investor that I should consider investing in previous metals such as gold as the price of it will only ever go up due to its finite nature. The price of gold was low previously but in recent years, with the oil and minerals price spikes, it was started to spiral. If only I had started investing in precious minerals ten years ago, I would have been able to make lots from my investments.