Russian gold producers express interest in GATA

9:13p ET Friday, March 30, 2001

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

News.24.com in South Africa has a very interesting interview
with the chief executives of that country's three leading
mining companies: Bobby Godsell of AngloGold, Chris Thompson
of Gold Fields, and Bernard Swanepoel of Harmony.

The interview touches heavily on the issue of manipulation of
the gold market. An excerpt:

* * *

Question: The gold price has averaged around US$280/oz for
two years, which represents a 20-year low. Some claim this
price has been held down artificially. What do you think?

Bernard Swanepoel: Most Harmony shareholders hold a
quot;conspiracyquot; theory, but I believe there are more players
interested in sending the price down than up, and sentiment
is helping them.

Chris Thompson: Some wild claims have been made. Yet
these could easily have been refuted if they were untrue.
One must ask why the claims weren't refuted.

Bobby Godsell: I have no compelling evidence to support
price manipulation. Two recent academic studies suggested
forward selling affects prices and can cap rises in the
short term, but this plays only a small part in explaining
the weak gold price over the past two decades. In
particular, the Jessica Cross study predicts a decline in
producer hedging in the future.

* * *

You can read the interview here:

a href=http://news.24.com/News24/Finance/features/0,4186,2-8-http://news.24.com...
133_1004282,00.html

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer