$PSGR An old gold prospector and his mule went out

$PSGR An old gold prospector and his mule went out into the countryside in search of riches. He spent several years roaming the mountains, hills, and valleys of places far and wide. Every 6 months or so, he would return to his home and sit down with family, friends, and anyone who would listen to tell all of them of his exploits. He would spin tall tales of potential rich deposits of gold and possible investment opportunities to anyone and everyone who would listen. Alas, after a dozen years or so, the tales of potential riches from gold became so redundant that people began to question the old gold prospector's true intentions. To create a different story-line, the old gold prospector changed his singular focus on gold to include tales of possible locations of platinum and silver...plus a little gold just to keep the precious metals tale interesting. For a brief period, the new storyline brought in new people to listen and help the prospector with his financial needs. Once again, the lack of any demonstrable precious metals assets caused people to question the knowledge, expertise, and intent of the old prospector. Not to be deterred, the old prospector decided to introduce yet another possible avenue to riches to a now skeptical audience. Yep, apparently the old prospector had read a few articles in the newspapers that highlighted a US shortage of elements that were found in abundance in one of the US's antagonists! Rare Earths!!! Yes, the US was woefully behind in the mining and production of these 'critical to the US Military and Research Institutions' elements. The old prospector knew it was time to create interest and excitement in a new mining adventure! The old prospector even went as far as to provide Press Releases to the public. To the dismay of the old prospector, nobody bought in to the potential new mining direction. Not to be deterred, once again, the old prospector decided to change the image of his exploits from one of actively prospecting to simply looking for possible locations that could possibly provide potential precious metals and base metals. People need Copper too, doncha know?
Almost 3 decades after the old prospector set out to find his riches, he is still actively creating an image of potential, probable, possible wealth through his prospecting efforts. Will he ever find anything of value?