I'm asking if that is a possibility or probability. Anyone know? SA production is very a very significant portion of world production, that I do know.
Force Majure on gold contracts is impossible. The world is NOT in shortage of gold in any way. 99% of all gold ever mined during thousands of years of muman civilization is still around some where in the world. Gold is mainly a trading vehicle, not an industrial consumption metal. The whole world can stop gold mine production for a few years and there still will not be any shortage. But platinum group metals are a totall different story. That includes platinum and palladium. Both metal shot up Thursday and Friday in response to the SA mine shut down news. If you want to leverage the PGM metal boom, consider buying SWC and PAL. Both rallied very nicely on Friday. These two are the only primary PGM mines outside South Africa. http://seekingalpha.com/article/55173-palladium-an-investable-metal-that-defies-physics
Forgive my newbie ignorance on this particular subject, please... One of the mining companies that is shutdown is short 9.5 million oz of gold going forward. I don't know about the others, but I would guess they aren't the only one that's hedged. So when "force majure" is declared, it can't be by any individual company or country, but rather by the options exchange itself?