QE didn't start until November 2008 (gold = $814) That stopped by Nobember 2014 (gold = $1232). 51% increase in gold over 6 years, or 7% per year.
That is far lower than the increase in gold in other 6 year periods which didn't have QE.
I wish we would actively foster panning for gold. It's environmentally friendly. It's "blue collar" work that doesn't require a college degree, spiffy resume and do forth and it doesn't take much gold per year to potentially support someone who otherwise might be homeless or flipping burgers (or both).
I do know we have too little well-paid manual labor and too much of a divide between the have and have nots. I know you don't need much more than a gold pan to get started, which can be had for under ten dollars from places like Walmart.
I didn't research the land owenership/public management of rivers angle very much. I do know that it's not illegal in some places to dredge rivers on public land, which is extremely disruptive of the ecosystem.
This is more of less the summary of the research I did into the subject:
https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2016/11/h...
There's then the perception that in bad times gold is a "safe bet". Low returns in savings accounts too.
The trend is persistent, the rock is much the same as it has ever been. Do you have an alternate thesis to QE for why this is happening or are you happy to write it off as a mystery?
[0] https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm