A major gold discovery could buy postwar Britain recovery time

How would a major domestic gold discovery change Britain's recovery after the Second World War?

It could provide a financial buffer for industrial reconstruction without turning Britain into a resource-dependent economy.

The hypothetical mine provides time rather than a replacement for industry. Extra income could cushion Britain's abrupt postwar financial adjustment and help fund reconstruction of the country and its industrial plant. Britain was too industrialised and labour-intensive to become a simple resource-dependent economy like the examples raised in the discussion. The mine's importance would lie in bridging the first recovery years while productive capacity was rebuilt.