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Richard Appel: Gold and silver will be up again but it may take a while
5:27p ET Thursday, May 13, 2004
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Blanchard & Co., the New Orleans coin and
bullion dealer, announced today that it has
defeated a motion by Barrick Gold to add about
20 bullion banks and 75 gold producers as
defendants in Blanchard's gold price-fixing
lawsuit in federal court in New Orleans.
In a statement to its employees, Blanchard
said Barrick had based its motion on a claim
that its gold hedging program is similar to
programs used by other mining companies. But,
Blanchard added, Barrick has long claimed in
filings with both the court and the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission that
its hedging program is UNIQUE.
That is, it seems that, to try to delay the
lawsuit and its evidence-discovery process
by adding dozens of defendants, Barrick has
just changed its story completely.
Denying Barrick's motion, the court didn't
buy the change of stories.
Barrick and its co-defendant and bullion
bank, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., are, GATA
has long maintained, the intermediaries
through which the U.S. Treasury Department
and Federal Reserve have been intervening
surreptitiously in the gold market. The
U.S. government is entitled by law to sell
and buy gold but, GATA has maintained, only
to achieve ordinary purchases and sales, not
to rig the market, and only in the open, not
surreptitiously so that only favored
associates of the government, like Barrick
and Morgan Chase, can profit by exclusive
knowledge of government policy.
Those were the points of GATA consultant Reg
Howe's lawsuit against Morgan Chase, the
Treasury Department, the Fed, and others in
federal court in Boston several years ago.
The Blanchard lawsuit pursues the same
points with a much-narrowed list of
defendants, which is why the case is so
important.
Blanchard's statement is appended.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
* * *
STATEMENT TO BLANCHARD & CO. EMPLOYEES
FROM DONALD W. DOYLE JR., CEO
We just received a copy of the court's order and
reasons denying Barrick's motion to join, as
defendants, approximately 20 bullion banks and
75 gold producers. The court said that, without
production of the documents requested by
Blanchard, it was impossible to determine the
status of the absent parties.
According to the court, a dispositive issue in
this case is whether or not Barrick's hedging
program is unique. Blanchard says the program
IS unique; Barrick claims that it is NOT unique.
The court has placed Barrick on a very slippery
slope. Not only is the company now open to
its worst nightmare -- discovery that will provide
even more proof of manipulation and
monopolization -- but it also finds itself in the
unenviable position of claiming that its hedging
program is NOT unique even though the company has
repeatedly stated the OPPOSITE in filings with
the federal district court and in filings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Just two examples:
"Barrick admits, on information and belief,
that no other gold producer has available to
it the combination of margin-free hedging,
10-15-year terms, and flexible delivery dates
that are available to Barrick." (Answer of
defendant Barrick Gold Corp. to plaintiffs'
third supplemental and amended complaint,
October 7, 2003, Paragraph 35.)
"The terms of our gold sales contracts provide
flexibility and benefits that we believe are
unique to us and unavailable to any other
gold producer." ( Barrick annual report for
2002, Page 55, incorporated in Barrick's
Form 40-F filing with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission in 2003.)
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RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Free sites:
http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com
http://www.capitalupdates.com/
http://www.silver-investor.com
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html
http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html
http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com
http://www.kuik.com/KH/KH.html
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)
Subscription site:
http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/
Eagle Ranch discussion site:
http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm
Ted Butler silver commentary archive:
http://www.investmentrarities.com/
----------------------------------------------------
COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS
Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East 1st Ave.
Suite 403
Denver, Colorado 80206
http://www.USAGold.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
US (800) 869-5115
Canada 1-800-294-9462
European Union 00-800-2760-2760
Australia 0011-800-2760-2760
cpm@usagold.com
Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net
El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net
Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
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Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com
Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com
Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel
Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com
Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com
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