Conspiracy theory: Gold and South Africa

China has just passed the USA and Europe as South Africa's major trading partner.

There have long been rumblings of nationalizing the gold mines but this has largely been a pipe dream on the part of the ANC's partners in the tripartite agreement. There is however the option to sell all future gold production to China at an agreed rate (forward or otherwise in Chinese currency). In return there would be soft loans to SA (particularly to fund the new power stations and grid), investment and technology transfer.

This scenario could hold some attraction for South Africa but what would happen to the gold price?