gold, page-93147

"Perhaps, but what sort of message does that send to the market, if comex is forced to settle in cash to avoid default."

COMEX is not forced into anything - it is a clearing house, not a party to the trade. Another bug furphy.
Most delivery occurs outside the COMEX warehouse - I suggest you read up on the EFP process.
Cash settlement is not default.
Zack fails to mention that only the near month open contracts are even eligible to stand for delivery, thus COMEX warehouse inventories always cover eligible open positions multiple times over.