You are here
Metal Bulletin features GATA chairman and some of his anonymous critics
.... It's multiple choice:
A) The Gartman Letter.
B) Tim Wood.
C) Central banks and bullion banks working
furiously together to keep the gold price
down.
* * *
Producer De-Hedging Accelerates in 2004
Business Day, South Africa
Thursday, September 16, 2004
http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1705567-6078-
0,00.html
Outstanding producer hedge positions were slashed by
209 tons in the six months to June, a sharp increase on
the 43 tons cut in the six month period prior to that.
This is one of the key findings of GFMS' latest report on
the gold market -- Gold Survey 2004 - Update 1.
The significant fall left the delta-adjusted hedge book
at the end of June 2004 at a measured 1,997 tons,
equivalent to 77 percent of 2003 annual mine production,
the report says.
The position represented a 9 percent drop from the
position reported at end-December 2003.
Commenting on the report, Senior Analyst Bruce Alway
said: "It's worth pointing out that, on a quarterly basis,
the pace of de-hedging accelerated progressively from
the September quarter 2003. And there's every sign
that this acceleration has continued into the second
half of this year."
He identified three main drivers behind producer
de-hedging in the first half of the year.
Firstly, hedged producers continued to reduce their
cover in line with stated goals and in some cases
exceeded these targets.
Of equal importance was merger activity.
Two major deals saw hedge books exchange hands
and, in one case, substantially cut and, in another,
completely closed out.
Finally, Alway highlighted the significance of book
restructuring, which contributed not only to an overall
drop in protected volumes but, more importantly, had
a marked impact on the makeup of the global book
itself, which was further concentrated in simple
forward sales.
On a company basis, AngloGold Ashanti's combined
hedge book was reduced by 62 tons from their
respective positions reported at end-December 2003.
Barrick reduced its outstanding position by 51 tons,
whilst a major book restructure completed by Newcrest
resulted in a 22-ton decline in their delta adjusted position.
Other noteworthy contributors to the half yearly drop in
the producer book were Placer Dome (19 tons), Avgold
(18 tons), and Cambior (15 tons).
De-hedging is forecast to hold at elevated levels of over
200 tons in the second half.
The report points out that in the light of recent events --
the announcement by Thistle Mining in August that it
had bought back around 15 tons of contracts; news
from New Zealand that Oceana Gold closed a 29-ton
position and, lastly, the news at the end of August that
Sons of Gwalia (who at end-June had a 52-ton
delta-adjusted hedge position) had been put into
voluntary administration -- the base case level of 200
tons of de-hedging could well be a minimum.
----------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:
gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:
gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------------------
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
Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com
Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East 1st Ave., Suite 403
Denver, Colorado 80206
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
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
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com
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
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
----------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP GATA
If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.
By check:
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA
By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:
http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html
By GoldMoney:
http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L
Donors of $750 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled "GATA."
GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.
