Letters to the Editor Reader called it right

Your editorial South African Strike in the Aug 17 issue suggests the possibility “that gold could soar even further on international markets as a result of a prolonged South African strike.”

While this might be a logical consequence, gold prices have remained unusually flat up to now, suggesting that the potential fallout of this strike is not as serious as the news media would have readers believe.

A recent newspaper article reports that at $300 a month, a black South African miner’s wage is approximately one-tenth that of a Canadian gold miner. On the other hand, the Canadian gold miner accounted for about 400 oz of gold production in 1983, while his black South African counterpart accounted for just 45 oz, or one- ninth the Canadian miner’s production. In ot her words, Canadian/South African labor costs relative to gold production are roughly at par.

Should the South African gold mining industry conclude the N.U.M. wage demands to be excessive from an international perspective, that industry will simply tend to become less dependent on manual labor and will mechanize to a greater degree, much as Inco has done in Sudbury. Already, the South African coal mines are the most productive, most mechanized and least labor intensive in the world.

My unprofessional prediction would be that the strike will be successfully resolved with minimal impact on gold prices. Rolf Posma Oshawa, Ont. Editor’s note: You were obviously right, on both counts.