The gold price may be correcting, but the physical buying has never been higher.

"The United States Mint has depleted its inventory of 2009 American Buffalo One Ounce Gold Bullion Coins. ... No additional inventory will be made available. As additional information becomes available regarding 2010-dated American Buffalo One Once Gold Bullion Coins, you will be notified." So said a memorandum issued Friday to authorized purchasers of U.S. Mint gold coins and reported by Jim Sinclair..
Mineweb reported only two weeks ago, on November 25th, the suspension of sales of American Gold Eagle coins by the Mint - U.S. Mint suspends American Eagle 1-ounce gold coin sales - again, which, at the time, reckoned such sales would be resumed early this month - but in the event, not only is the suspension of the Gold Eagle coin sales continuing, but also now the American Buffalo one ounce gold coin sales have also been suspended, with no new sales now planned until some time in 2010 - although the current sharp fall in the gold price may provide the Mint with a bit of respite from its supply/demand woes.

Gold coins of smaller than one ounce size haven't been produced nearly all year. They came back on production just the other day and backorders swamped available supply.

The US Mint ran out of one ounce 2009 American Gold Eagle coins last week which caused their temporary suspension, and now the fractional sizes that were just launched are either gone or being allocated following record one-day sales.
Due to strong demand, the American Eagle Gold Tenth-Ounce Coin inventory was depleted. The inventory for the half-ounce and quarter-ounce coins remains very limited. We will offer the remaining half-ounce and quarter-ounce coins for sale via the United States Mint standard allocation process.

On the plus side for the US Mint, Silver Eagle coins are becoming available again today, after sales were suspended due to depletion.