Daily Dispatches

By Dan Keane
Associated Press
Tuesday, February 6, 2007

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070206/bolivia_miners_protests.html?.v=1

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- More than 20,000 miners from across Bolivia marched into La Paz on Tuesday, tossing bits of dynamite that sent booming explosions echoing through the streets in a protest of President Evo Morales' plans for a steep hike in mining taxes.

The hard-hatted miners whistled and chanted as they filed through the center of the capital city in the protest against the tax proposal, which they say would unfairly burden hundreds of small independent miners' cooperatives.

5:20p ET Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Gold market and technical analyst Clive Maund's new commentary asks the musical question: "Gold price manipulation -- Does it matter?" He concludes that the answer is no more important than whether the chewing gum loses its flavor on the bedpost overnight.

But Maund's commentary itself is important for signifying that manipulation of the gold market is increasingly accepted as a given by analysts, if only grudgingly, since, of course, manipulation makes a mockery of analysis and analysts alike. Indeed, technical analysis of a manipulated market is worthless if it takes no account of the manipulation. That is, despite their conscientiousness, people like Maund have been largely wasting their time.

By John Dizard
Financial Times, London
via Yahoo News
Monday, February 5, 2007

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ft/20070205/bs_ft/fto020520071619273517;_ylt=As8...

Two weeks ago I unfairly profiled the Chicago speculator community. "Profiling," in the sense of accusing or convicting a suspect based on race or general appearances, is wrong, even in the case of such a rich and privileged group as the "locals," or speculators in the commodities pits.

By Les Blumenthal
McClatchy Newspapers
Monday, February 5, 2007

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16629646.htm

WASHINGTON -- One-time mining giant Asarco, charging that its Mexican owner stole its most valuable asset and left it to face $7 billion worth of environmental and asbestos-related claims, has asked a federal bankruptcy judge to void the transfer of two Peruvian copper mines to Grupo Mexico, S.A. de C.V.