This will accomplish nothing, because the purchase of the futures contract and the sale of the same futures contract will cancel each other out. The mining company will have nothing but some unnecessary brokerage costs.
A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a specified quantity of a specified asset on a future date for a specified price. The gold mining company expecting to sell 10,000 ounces of gold in 6 months can sell a 6-month futures contract today in order to be certain of the price it will receive. The gold mining company will be committed to delivering the gold in 6 months, and the price it will receive is also committed because it is stated in the contract. The futures contract will serve as a hedge for the revenue risk, because regardless of what the market price is for the gold in 6 months, the mining company will receive the revenue stated in the futures contract. Whether the mining company benefits from the futures contract or loses money on the contract depends upon the market price of gold in 6 months. If the market price is lower than the contract price in 6 months, the mining company will receive the higher contract price for the gold and will benefit. If the market price is higher than the contract price, the mining company will also receive the contract price. The mining company will not be able to benefit from the higher market price and thus will lose the difference between the contract price and the higher market price. However, the mining company will have locked in the revenue it will receive in 6 months for the sale of the gold and thus will have eliminated the uncertainty of not knowing how much it will receive.
Selling the gold in the spot market 6 months from today would be no hedge at all, because the gold would simply be sold at the market price in effect on that date. The gold mining company would bear the revenue risk of selling at whatever the market price is in 6 months.
Buying a gold futures contract for 10,000 ounces today that expires in 6 months would commit the gold mining company to buying 10,000 ounces of gold in 6 months. It would not serve to hedge the revenue risk of selling 10,000 ounces of gold in 6 months.
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