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Contacts for gold companies at Denver show

Section: Daily Dispatches

8:50a EDT Sunday, October 17, 1999

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Here's an appeal from GATA Chairman Bill Murphy to
every gold shareholder in the world. We need you to
join us today in a surprise assault on the gold mining
executives and buillion bankers at the Denver gold
show. This is where the whole gold world is today,
and you must make sure that they hear us!

Please post this as seems useful.

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

* * *

TORA! TORA! TORA!

GATA'S RIGHT FLANK LAUNCHES
SURPRISE OFFENSIVE AGAINST
THE HANNIBAL CANNIBALS

Sunday, October 17, 1999

At 7:50 a.m. Central Daylight Time today the Gold Anti-
Trust Action Committee launched a surprise strike
against the Hannibal Cannibal gold bullion dealers and
their closet allies. We intend to catch them flatfooted
in a Pearl Harbor-type assault.

The focus of GATA's attack is the Denver Gold Group
Gold Conference convening today at the Westin Hotel in
Denver, Colorado. Among those in attendance will be the
bullion dealers that colluded to drive the price of gold
down to an unnaturally low price, as well as their primary
accomplices, the extremely hedged gold producers. The
conference continues through Wednesday.

Participants in the conference begin arriving today in
Denver and will not be ready to counterattack.

But for this surprise strike to work, GATA requires a
little help from every gold stock shareholder in the
world. Now is the time to stand up for your investment
and for the gold cause.

This conference is a prestigious one. Its managing
director, Michelle Stell, has done a marvelous job
organizing it since she came up with her idea 10
years ago. Most big gold producers and many smaller
ones will be there, along with bullion dealers, gold
fund managers, and gold analysts. The conference will
be a quot;Who's Whoquot; of the world gold industry.

When the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee was formed,
we came up with a battle plan to take on Hannibal
Lecter and the other Hannibal Cannibal bullion dealers.
Our plan was patterned after the tactics of the
ferocious South African Zulu chieftain, Shaka. To
defeat his foes, Shaka positioned his troops in a
diamond formation. The point made a thrust in the
middle of the enemy position, and then the diamond's
left and right flanks would suddenly flare out and
attack from the sides. The resulting formation became
known as quot;the enveloping horn.quot;

The quot;pointquot; of GATA's attack was our retaining the law
firm of Berger amp; Montague of Philadelphia, the premier
anti-trust law firm in the United States. Our lead
attorney at Berger amp; Montague, Merrill G. Davidoff, has
extensive knowledge of the gold market. The firm is
assisting our investigation of the manipulation of the
gold market, and the bullion dealers know that with
Berger amp; Montague, we are a force to be reckoned with.

The forces of GATA's left flank have been letting the
Internet, the news media, and the U.S. Congress know
about the manipulation of the gold market. GATA
officials have gone to Washington and conferred with
three committees with jurisdiction over economic
matters. We remain in regular contact with them.
Further, GATA's associates in Europe were instrumental
in getting the price manipulation issue raised in the
House of Commons when the Bank of England began to sell
gold to bail out the reckless but influential gold
shorts.

The forces of GATA's right flank have been working to
mobilize gold producers against the manipulators and to
get the producers to cover their forward sale hedges.
Meanwhile we have been encouraging gold company
shareholders to invest in good producers that are only
modestly hedged or have no forward sale positions at
all. This part of our plan does far more than suit our
own purposes. For only by changing their stock
allocations from heavily hedged to lightly hedged and
unhedged producers will investors participate fully in the
coming bull market in gold.

Ashanti Gold and Cambior were virtually destroyed this
month because the bullion dealers had sold them
extensive quot;structured dealquot; hedge programs that failed
to take into account a quick and substantial rise in
the gold price. Other gold producers that have
made such hedging deals with the Hannibal Cannibals may
blow up in the next quick rise in the gold price. Do
gold investors want to take that chance by owning shares
in heavily hedged producers?

Chris Thompson, the chairman of the world's second
largest gold producer, Gold Fields Ltd., had the
following to say last Thursday after his company bought
back the bulk of its hedged position:

quot;Having looked at the fundamentals of the current gold
market and the implications of the Ashanti situation,
it seems inevitable to us that higher, if not much
higher, gold prices are inevitable. Accordingly it
seemed prudent to retrieve our hedge positions.quot;

A few months ago Thompson was the first major gold
company executive to speak out about the nefarious
activities of the Hannibals. On April 16, denying
persistent rumors that that Gold Fields had recently
sold a large amount of its gold production forward,
Thompson said:

quot;These rumors appear to be emanating from New York-
based bullion dealers.quot;

Gold Fields was also the producer that bought gold at
the second Bank of England gold action, thereby
alerting the world that producers had begun to buy back
their hedges and sparking the recent rally in the gold
price.

Thompson will be attending the conference in Denver. So
will the top brass of the heavily hedged Barrick Gold,
whose chief executive officer recently had this to say:

quot;London, Sept. 17 (Reuters) -- Barrick Gold President
and CEO Randall Oliphant today told gold miners to stop
criticizing central bank gold sales and concentrate on
how to survive in the current low gold price
environment. Oliphant said that while he would prefer
that the Bank of England did not sell its gold, he did
not think that moaning was the right answer.

quot;Oliphant said, 'The Bank of England tried to do what
we asked them, which was to be transparent in what they
did.'

quot;Barrick runs the largest hedge book in the industry,
with its entire planned production sold through to the
end of 2001, some 13.3 million ounces as of July 22,
committed at secured prices averaging $385/ounce.quot;

In a recent conference call, Barrick gave no indication
that it was planning to cover its hedges, and then
alerted its shareholders that in addition to its
forward sales, it had written 4 million ounces of
calls. I spoke to two major shareholders in Barrick
prior to this conference call, and they said they knew
nothing about these calls.

Do you see what is happening here?

One leading gold producer is taking action that
supports the price of gold and thereby stands to
benefit all gold investors.

And another leading gold producer talks down the market
and the whole gold industry, and refuses to take action
that will benefit even its own shareholders in the long
run.

Barrick Gold will be represented at the Denver
conference too.

So I urge gold investors around the world to proclaim
their support for the position taken by Gold Fields
and to give notice to Barrick and its accomplices that
if they continue to hinder an advance in the gold price
and do not start covering their hedges: 1) Gold
investors may boycott their stock, and 2) Their
managements may be held personally accountable as a
matter of law if the gold price rallies sharply before
they have taken the prudent action that is their
fiduciary duty to their stockholders.

What fundamentals of the gold market does Gold Fields
understand that Barrick does not?

One must ask why Barrick and the other heavily hedged
producers are listening to the bullion dealers who are
advising them to remain short.

These are same bullion dealers that failed to alert the
heavily hedged producers to cover before the recent
surge in the gold price.

In the weeks before the announcement of the European
central banks that they would cease cooperating in the
gold carry trade, www.LeMetropoleCafe.com disclosed
that government-to-government negotiations were under
way and that their result could be very supportive of
the gold price for a change, instead of harmful to it.
Why were the bullion dealers seemingly so uninformed
and unprotective of the producers they had induced to
hedge so much, producers like Ashanti and Cambior? Or
were the bullion dealers really so uninformed?

The Denver conference will be crucial to the direction
of the gold industry, and this is how I see it.

There will be two camps. The modestly hedged and
unhedged producers will be one camp, and the heavily
hedged producers and the Hannibal Cannibals that got
them into the current mess will be in the other.

The Hannibal camp will seek to assure the mining
companies that governments and central banks will
intervene in the gold market again to push the price
down, so the mining companies should not worry about
covering their forward sales. The Hannibals will say
that they have the cooperation of Eddie George at the
Bank of England and he and others in government
authority are intervening in the gold market at the
moment.

Indeed, certain quot;official sectorsquot; are still trying to
hold the price of gold down; I have reported as much
over the past few days now.

It is obvious. On Friday the U.S. Producer Price Index
was up a whopping 1.1 percent for the month, far
greater than any estimate. The dollar and the U.S.
stock market fell hard, but gold was held to a $2 gain.

All week gold rose on markets around the world only to
sell off in New York as Peter Fisher and Co. at the New
York Fed and others moved against it. They have long
experience at this and are pretty good at it -- in the
short run.

Yes, the Hannibals will talk gold down to all who will
listen. Why?

Derivativesville! The bullion dealers and many of their
clients have massive option exposure on gold. If gold
rises above $325-$330 area, it will cause them terrible
problems, as many owners of the calls the Hannibals
have sold could ask for the actual gold. This could
cause massive buying and drive the price sharply
higher.

The Hannibals are a frightened lot now. Having long
denied that the price of gold was being manipulated
down, their apologists now are bleating that the world
financial system will be engulfed in chaos if gold
rallies further and governments don't move to suppress
the price again. The Hannibals want government to bail
them out again. Meanwhile these same bullion dealers are
putting the heat on Ashanti CEO Sam Jonah, whose
company they have helped to ruin. These people are
hypocrites of the first order.

Yes, the Hannibals will be at the Denver conference
talking gold down -- just long enough so they can cover
their short positions to protect against a bull market.
They don't want anyone to know this. (Quietly, some
are forming gold vulture funds to take advantage
of the infant bull market in gold).

This is exactly why hedged producers should be
buying back their forward sales.

Yes, some central banks are putting liquidity into the
market now, if only to prevent it from seizing up. That is
good. Gold producers can buy back their forward positions
without running up the gold price too much. But these same
producers may not have another solid opportunity. Everyone
knows that the short position and supply deficit of
gold are so huge that there is significant exposure to
the upside. How can a prudent chief financial officer
of a gold producer keep his company heavily short at
this time and still be fulfilling his fiduciary duty to
his company's shareholders?

So, gold share investors, man your battle stations.

In an accompanying mailing GATA provides you with
contact information for the gold companies
participating in the Denver Gold Group conference. We
ask you to contact them to support the Chris Thompsons
of the gold world.

With enough urging from shareholders, other gold
companies will close out their hedges too and the gold
price should rally sharply.

The fax number at the Westin Hotel is 303-572-7288. Of
course callers outside the United States will have to
add the appropriate prefaces for international calls.

The Westin's fax number is connected to backup fax
machines to avoid logjams.

If you can't send a fax, you might leave a message for
the representative of your favorite (or least favorite)
gold company. Just call the main phone number at the
Westin: 303-572-9100.

The chief executive officers of the gold producers are
the ones who usually attend this conference. The people
on the list we are sending you are just our best
guesses as to who will be there. If you want to know
exactly who is representing a particular company at the
conference, you can always call the company directly
or check with the hotel.

GATA urges all gold company shareholders to send faxes
to two gold companies at the Westin, or to send email or
regular mail to 10 companies at their headquarters.

When you are finished, please contact two other gold
shareholders and ask them to do just what you have
done. Them ask them if they would find two other gold
shareholders to join us in this effort, and so forth.
We can reach hundreds of thousands of gold investors
if everyone does just a little bit here and the chain
holds.

In your faxes and letters, you might urge the gold
companies:

1) To ask Chris Thompson of Gold Fields why he believes
the gold market's fundmentals are so bullish.

2) To ask the bullion dealers why any producer should
stay short when there is such upside potential because
of the enormous short positions that have not been
covered yet.

3) To ask if there is even one bullion dealer at the
conference advising producers to cover.

Of course ask you might like to add your own questions
as well. Just remember to be courteous in everything
you do.

The manipulation of the gold market by the bullion
dealers is the great financial scandal of our time. It
has inflicted devastation on many countries and
millions of people -- gold miners and their dependents
and gold company shareholders, and, really, everyone
who was not part of the scheme to deny the world the
benefits of gold's traditional monetary function as the
truth teller about paper currencies and as a
competitive form of money in itself.

Gold investors now must fight back.

These next few days are the time to act and Denver
is the place.

YOU can make a difference. If the producers at this
conference start covering their hedges, the gold price
will go up, probably way up. Isn't that what we
all want? Isn't that what THEY are SUPPOSED to want
too?

quot;Carpe diemquot; -- quot;Vox populi, vox Deiquot; -- quot;So be it.quot;

Go get 'em.

BILL MURPHY, Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee