from Silver Doctors:

Good thing nobody wants pet rocks anymore!

(Silver Doctors Editors) Yesterday we reported on the Royal Canadian Mint shutting down production.

Today, we report on the closure of gold mines.

From Bloomberg (bold added for emphasis):

South Africa’s iconic mines, from the ever-deepening gold shafts on which the economy was founded to massive iron ore pits and rich platinum seams, are about to go silent.

From midnight Thursday, all but a few coal operations needed to fuel the country’s power stations are expected to be included in a nationwide lockdown aimed at containing the coronavirus. The sweeping shutdown is unprecedented in the 150-year history of South Africa’s mining industry, which today employs more than 450,000 people.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is moving quickly to curb the virus spread as infections threaten to spiral out of control in a country with an already strained health system and rampant unemployment. The army will help police to enforce the lockdown, with grocers, pharmacies, banks, filling stations and other essential services allowed to remain open.

From the looks of it, South Africa is not playing.

Nor producing gold and other precious metals.

How long will the lockdown last?

It will last until mid-April.

From AP:

OHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa, Africa’s most industrialized economy and a nation of 57 million people, will to go into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days starting Thursday to try to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the president said Monday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the measures in response to the increase of COVID-19 cases to 402. South Africa will be the third country in Africa to close down all but essential economic activity, after Rwanda and Tunisia.

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