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Gold/Mining/Energy : Precious and Base Metal Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ralfph who wrote (781)	12/8/2001 5:58:26 PM
From: russwinter	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39344

<Give Hans a break.> Gosh, I'm not holding Hans responsible for this mess. He doesn't even have to defend it, and I'm not even going to try and defend the US, as I'm about as cynical of my own country. So nothing personal about it at all, in fact SA is a fascinating country, and wish the people there the best. That's why I'm researching it, and also because a hard look is in order given SA role as a major producer of a number of key metals in the world. Nor am I some bleeding heart social reformer casting stones here. In accordance with the topic of this thread I'm just questioning the merits and sustainability of their companies, and economy as resource producers, especially with this wage scale. I've been reading some interesting material especially about Cape Town, which is actually prosperous relative to the rest of SA. The area around the mining districts is really a disaster. But in CT life is still pretty good for whites, Asians, and what they call "coloureds". But blacks are another story. Here are the results of a large survey conducted by that city: capetown.gov.za I doubt that many will want to bother with flipping through it, so I'll summarize. It is obvious to me that SA govt is doing everything in their power to bring basic services and infrastructure to all people there. Nearly everybody has electricity, refuse pickup, and is hooked up at least nearby to sanitary sewer. At this time 33% of blacks share toilets with another household but that's way down. Water is at the tap for almost 100% of the non-black groups, and for 33% blacks. The rest access it in their yard or very close by at public taps. That tells you a strong service effort is being made. That is also evident in the city planning literature. capetown.gov.za However, fundamental quality of life is where SA is in big trouble: Very satisfied/Satisfied with their lives: White 78% Asian 82% Coloured 72% Black 39% Very dissatisfied/dissatisfied: White 7% Asian 6% Coloured 10% Black 42% Not able to afford to feed children, page 6: White 1% Asian 11% Coloured 6% Black 49% Neighborhood safety: Very safe/Rather safe Whites 88% Asian 73% Coloured 81% Black 58% Unsafe/ very unsafe: Whites 12% Asian 27% Coloured: 18% Black: 42% No phone in home: White 9% Asian 21% Coloured 34% Black 76% 80% of blacks use asbestos for roof cover. Conclusion: When you have that many miserable people in such a large racial sector of your nation, you have serious problems, especially combined with what is obviously a severe contraction and capital flight. I'd sell these SA mining companies while the getting is good.