Howe leads class-action lawsuit against Kinross Gold

By Thom Calandra
CBS.MarketWatch.com
April 25, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gold's spot price approached $310
Thursday for the first time since Oct. 22, 1999, confirming
what observers say is a sustained rally for the precious
metal.

The metal's rise, up $4.20 to $308 an ounce, came as the
euro gained to almost 90 cents on the dollar and the yen
rose almost 1 percent against the greenback. The metal,
which traded around $270 in January, is reflecting Middle
Eastern turmoil, a visit by the Saudi king to Texas, and
the U.S. stock market's decline below what technicians
say are support levels.

quot;We're in the second stage of a raging market for gold,
and eventually silver and palladium will follow,quot; said
James Dines, editor of The Dines Letter, an advisory
service that covers mining companies.

Investors' shift to gold and other mining companies
comes as the stock market whips once-mighty issues
like Tyco International (TYC), IBM (IBM) , AOL Time
Warner, and General Electric (GE). On Thursday
morning, Tyco saw $9 billion of market capitalization
vanish after the ailing conglomerate abandoned its
break-up plan. The move by Tyco led one market
trader, whose name will stay safely anonymous, to
label the company quot;psycho Tyco.quot;

Robert Bishop, longtime editor of The Gold Mining
Stock Report, said spot gold's price of $305 was a
so-called resistance level for wary investors who
preferred to believe their beloved NYSE and
Nasdaq stocks would stage a comeback. If gold
holds its gains above $305, Bishop expects the price
to rise another $50 to $60 an ounce in the coming year,
and perhaps more.

At the same time, he says, gold-related equities are
trading at prices that suggest far higher levels for the
metal. quot;Gold's persistent stay north of $300 suggests
that the next stage of the gold market is fast coming into
view,quot; Bishop says. Most Main Street and Wall Street
investors, he says, are still quot;much more interested in
seeing their Dow and Nasdaq-heavy portfolios
restored to some measure of their former selves.quot;

Of course, that won't happen anytime soon.

Pravin Banker said gold will continue to benefit from
a growing disgust with mainstream securities and
sloppy interest-rate guidance by the Federal Reserve.
Banker, principal of LDC Bond Watch and The Financial
Network Inc in Connecticut, accurately forecast Tyco's
debt woes, IBM's accounting snafus and other red flares
among blue-chip companies.

quot;For 6 years now, lured by the Rubin-inspired strong
dollar policy, foreigners have forsaken gold for the safety
of dollars and faith in that Der Alte Greenspan, its guardian,quot;
Banker said Thursday about Robert Rubin and Alan
Greenspan. quot;Enron has revealed the ugly side of
manipulation and collusion, and the risks inherent in
unserviceable debt burdens, Tyco the last straw. Asian
faith is shaken. They are reverting back to their age old
haven, and tempting U.S. institutions to follow in their
wake, and buy gold.quot;

For investors, gold's latest rally has lifted gold equity
indexes across the globe, none more so than in South
Africa. With a market cap of $6 billion, Gold Fields Ltd.
(GOLD) is that nation's most richly valued bullion miner,
surpassing longtime heavyweight Anglogold (AU). Gold
Fields, its production entirely unhedged against the
possibility of the metal's decline, has built its 85 million
ounces of gold reserves through the rapid -- and
cheap -- purchase of mines in Africa and Australia.

Gold's rally leaves many large and small investors
searching for mining companies whose shares look
reasonably valued. Trouble is, as newsletter editor
Bishop points out, many established gold names
trade at levels that almost demand a gold price that
is at least 15 percent greater that the current price. In
this year's first quarter, gold-based mutual funds,
many of them up 40-plus percent, made up 18 of the
top 20 spots for domestic funds in the three-month span.

Bishop recommends buying the stocks he has backed
for years, unhedged miners such as South Africa's
Harmony Gold (HGMCY), Gold Fields, Goldcorp (GG),
and others represented by the Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI).

Dines, who tracks low-priced mining stocks, says America's
brokerage and research houses quot;are still sniffing in the
empty mouse holes of Microsoft and ATamp;T. Meanwhile,
this is the biggest gold rally of the past 20 years.quot;

Dines, whose model stock portfolio was one of the first
quarter's top 10 performers for the 165 newsletters tracked
by Hulbert Financial Digest, says investors would do well to
buy silver miners at this stage.

quot;You cannot get a raging bull market in gold without
dragging the silvers higher,quot; Dines said Thursday. quot;Silver
is the poor man's gold; it is not just an industrial metal.
Silver will be dragged higher from $4.60 an ounce as
people look for the cheap stocks to buy.quot;

Dines recommends shares of silver producer Coeur
D'Alene Mines (CDE), whose shares, like those of other
silver miners, have lagged those of gold and platinum
producers.