Newsletter endorsements for GATA

11:45p EDT Monday, July 5, 1999

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Today's Financial Times in Britain carried a front-page
article about suspicions of a conspiracy against gold,
and it featured GATA. We continue to break into the
mainstream media. The story follows.

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

* * *

GOLD AUCTION SPARKS THEORIES OF CONSPIRACY

By Gillian O'Connor
Mining Correspondent
The Financial Times
July 5, 1999

At around 12.15 p.m. tomorrow the Bank of England will
announce the result of the UK's first gold auction.

The Treasury's decision gradually to sell more than
half the UK's gold reserves, announced on May 7,
provoked considerable criticism. Its defenders say it
is merely a portfolio move. Its more extreme opponents
vilify it as part of an international anti-gold
conspiracy masterminded by Alan Greenspan, Federal
Reserve chairman.

The success or otherwise of the auction is expected to
have a strong influence on market sentiment. Since May
7 the bullion price has fallen by about 10 percent.
Gold mining shares have fallen by nearly a quarter, and
some companies are talking of cutting spending,
staffing, and production.

Lobbyists have attacked the UK's decision, and are
attempting to persuade U.S. congressmen to block the
International Monetary Fund's plan to sell some of its
gold reserves.

The Treasury intends to sell 415 tonnes of the UK's 715
tonnes of gold reserves over the next few years. The
first 125 tonnes will be sold this year, in a series of
auctions of 25 tonnes every other month. The UK sale is
the latest in a series by central banks over the past
20 years, and is dwarfed by Switzerland's planned sale
of 1,300 tonnes.

But the Treasury announcement was wholly unexpected,
and gave speculators a wonderful opportunity to sell
first. Eddie George, governor of the Bank of England,
described the move as quot;a straightforward portfolio
decision.quot; But since May 6 the value of the UK's gold
reserves has fallen by about $600 million. quot;People get
emotionally attached to gold and we have seen quite a
lot of emotional reaction,quot; Mr. George said. The gold
price has been dithering around $260 an ounce for the
last three weeks.

And some analysts, such as Michael Coulson of Paribas,
believe the auction will spark a sharp rally of quot;at
least $15 an ouncequot;. But Tony Warwick-Ching of Virtual
Metals Research said it was just as likely that the
auction would lead to quot;a swift price correction as
investors take profits and producers snatch at the
chance to rebuild hedge books.quot;

Canadian major Placer Dome's response to falling prices
was to announce a big cut in exploration spending, and
said that even the Las Cristinas mine in Venezuela, one
of its biggest developments, was under review.

And Bill Murphy, chairman of the Gold Anti-Trust Action
Committee, a lobby group, argues that the UK sale is
part of an international conspiracy to keep the price
below $300. quot;Just as the price of gold is taking off,
our officialdom calls up the English poodles to make
their ridiculous gold sale announcement.quot;

-END-

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