Coronavirus disrupts gold mining but boosts metal's appeal
Add BT as a preferred sourceWITH businesses the world over increasingly grinding to a halt as the Covid-19 pandemic turns daily life topsy-turvy, even industries intrinsically linked to safe havens have been forced to hunker down.
The gold mining industry, for one, has had to dial back operations as restrictions imposed by governments to reduce the spread of the virus have curtailed production of the precious metal, which is widely regarded by investors as a store of value and a form of insurance in times of heightened uncertainties.
A number of large gold mining companies, many of which operate multiple mines worldwide, have downgraded their production forecasts in recent weeks. Among them, Newmont Corporation, the world's biggest gold miner, had to put four mines on temporary care and maintenance. Harmony Gold had to stop work at all nine of its underground mines in South Africa after the country, which built its economy on gold mining, shut its entire mining industry for an unprecedented three weeks from late March as part of a nation-wide lockdown.
