Mr. Frankel's study provides a thorough statistical analysis of the South African gold mining industry based on the accounts of 116 gold mining companies and of the leading mining groups and finance houses over a period of nearly eighty years. In it he examines the profitability, effects of taxation, and the financial structure of the industry as well as the failure or success of individual mines, and dispels some widely held misconceptions. His analysis is of particular relevance in relation to current discussions on the future supply of gold.