SA gold strikes could last until Christmas

``"The way things appear at the moment, it looks as though this will be a very lengthy strike; it may last until Christmas," he told Mineweb. This would mean roughly 80,000 NUM-card carrying gold miners, or around two thirds of the sector's employees, being on strike for more than an entire quarter. Such an outcome would be crippling for the country's gold sector, which is already struggling to cope with sharp cost increases, falling grades and declining prices.''