GATA conference recommended by Thom Calandra at CBSMarketWatch

1:55p ET Sunday, February 17, 2002

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

GATA has gotten some great publicity in Europe in
the last week.

The Italian financial newspaper Borsa amp; Finanza
published a big article about GATA in its February 8
issue, done as an interview with yours truly. That
issue of Borsa amp; Finanza also contained an interview
with David Watt of the Phoenix Gold Fund, headlined,
quot;Gold rally not finished.quot; Thanks so much to the writer,
Guido Bellosta, whose English is as excellent as my
Italian is limited to restaurant menus here in
Connecticut, recently confirmed by the U.S. census
as the most Italian state in the Union.

And then on February 15 the German financial paper
Handelsblatt published a big article about gold hedging
that mentioned GATA.

A GATA supporter fluent in German was very kind
to furnish us with a translation, which I'll append.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

* * *

Handelsblatt, February 15, 2002

HEDGING STRATEGIES ARE CONTROVERSIAL

New life is awaking in the gold market. The latest jump
in price to, temporarily $310 per ounce was, above all,
linked to an announcement made by mining giant
AngloGold Ltd. The latter intends to radically further
reduce the volume of its hedging activities (quot;hedge bookquot;).

Some mining companies are doing the same; others
are still waiting before taking a decision.

In such transactions mining companies sell in advance
a part of their gold that is still in the ground, in order to
raise capital. These hedging contracts often run several
years into the future. By so doing mining companies not
only obtain the current gold price, they also usually
recieve a premium that, in futures derivatives trade, as a
rule, is included in the price.

However, if the gold price rises, the mining companies
can come under pressure. In this event they must either
buy back the futures contract at a higher price or deliver
physical gold in order to fullfill the contract. If hedging
strategies are too short-term oriented and the gold that
has been sold in advance is still in the ground and cannot
be delivered, then the mining company must buy physical
gold in the spot market. This would strengthen the upward
movement of the gold price.

Nevertheless, quot;Gold purchases by mining companies for
hedging contracts shouldn't really have much influence on
the supply,quot; said Peter Ward of Lehman Brothers.

Other market participants see it differently. quot;Hedging proves
itself useful in a bear market,quot; said Robert McEwen, president
of Canada's Goldcorp Inc. in a discussion with Handelsblatt.
McEwen is reputed as a strong opponent of gold hedging.
He declines a membership for his company in the World Gold
Council, the marketing organisation of the gold industry.

His reasoning: His competitors have artificially held the gold
price at a low level through their hedging. quot;If the gold price
increases further, some of our competitors could be forced
to cover their open future contracts by purchasing physical
gold.quot; said McEwen.

Peter Lalor, chairman of Australia's Sons of Gwalia, intends
nevertheless to continue with his company's aggressive
hedging policy. quot;There is no doubt that opinion in the gold
industry toward hedging is undergoing change,quot; Lalor
admitted. Bad experience with hedging brought, in
particular, Ghana's giant gold company, Ashanti
Goldfields, and Canada's Cambior, which experienced
production problems around two years ago, into
serious financial difficulties as a result of a brief gold
price increase.

In the market it is speculated that hedging is not only
an activity of the gold producers but also of the central
banks, which have large gold reserves. Europe's central
banks have earned interest income on these gold
reserves through hedging strategies. Rumors that these
gold reserves have been sold forward several times are
unproven.

In the United States the former football professional Bill
Murphy is a dedicated gold fan. The former commodity
trader was appointed president of the Gold Anti-Trust
Action Committee (GATA). This organization accuses
the U.S. finance ministry, some banks, leading financial
establishments, and other financial organisations of
conspiracy. GATA's claim: These institutions have
manipulated economic data -- and through the use of
derivative trading -- have held the gold price down
artificially at an unjustified low level.