There's 273 ASX listed companies categorized as belonging to the...

There's 273 ASX listed companies categorized as belonging to the Australian gold sector. Many of these are hybrids rather than pure gold plays and many are microcap explorers with nothing in the way of resources. The total market cap of these companies is around $86 billion.

55 / 273 have market caps of more than $100 million and 11 of those more than $1 billion MC (excluding Newcrest which will be leaving the list).

The point I want to make is that Newcrest makes up a whopping 30% of the total market cap which is being sucked out of this sector to leave a huge void and most holders will probably opt to take cash in preference to owning a US listed stock.

Many of these holders are long term goldies and will want to reinvest the cash into the Australian gold sector. As ex-holders of Australia's largest gold stock most will likely be discerning and seek out the better quality alternatives, which probably includes no more than about 20% of the total 273 companies on the list.

This pending demand is in addition to the anticipated increase in M&A activity.