Mining bosses say a global climate for fear could be good for gold prices.

The 25th Diggers and Dealers conference has kicked-off in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, brining over 1,800 mining heavyweights to the remote gold town.

Former first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund John Lipsky gave a keynote address on day one, highlighting opportunities in a time of global political and economic instability.

“This is a very unusual time and one of great uncertainty,” he said.

“The happy news for the gold miners is that in the near term the uncertainty is generally not a bad thing for the gold price.”

Financial analyst Tim Treadgold backed the view.

“In Australian terms, we are getting very close to all-time high prices in the range of $1,770 to $1,800,” he said.

“Every gold miner in Australia would be profitable at those prices. And if they can be maintained there is going to be a lot more activity in gold.

“I'm quite confident it [the price] will stay strong. There are factors leaning towards it going higher - not least being the possible election of Donald Trump as US president.

“That would send a shock through the global system.

“Gold loves trouble. If gold is going up and everything else is going down it shows that we are in trouble in some areas, but for the Goldfields region, a high gold price is very good news.”

Attendees have reported a heightened sense of optimism this year, boosted partly by the restoration of some key commodity values.

New Deloitte data says Western Australian-based listed companies have grown in values by 1.8 per cent from last year, which saw an 11.6 per cent drop.

Lithium and gold companies are considered the leaders of WA’s market capitalisation growth.