Comments from unhappy Barrick shareholders

9p EST Tuesday, February 8, 2000

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Here's GATA Chairman Bill Murphy's quot;Midasquot; commentary
to his subscribers tonight at www.LeMetropoleCafe.com.

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

* * *

By Bill Murphy
www.LeMetropoleCafe.com
Tuesday, February 8, 2000

I know how many of you are quot;bummed.quot; And with good
reason. Free markets just do not behave as gold has
these past four months. The powers that are capping the
gold price and desperate to stop a serious gold price
advance because of the 10,000 tonnes of shorts that are
out there must be stopped. The manipulation game has to
end -- and soon.

For those so distressed that you are thinking of
throwing in the towel: The collusion crowd has lost
control of the gold market TWICE in four months. They
will lose control again. Many of the shares of the
small-cap gold companies went up 75 percent in a few
days before retreating one more time. When the lasting
gold price explosion comes, they can go up 300 to 800
percent or more very quickly.

It will be worth the wait, and that wait might be
ending right around the corner. In addition, the
smaller golds are performing much better than the
seniors. Their chart patterns and technical conditions
are strengthening. These technical internals will
propel the baby gold shares very high and fast when the
shorts panic and the gold move begins in earnest.

* Kudos for LeMetropole Cafe's John Brimelow, who
nailed the palladium and platinum market. Palladium for
June delivery rose to $579.80, up $38.90. April
platinum topped $500 per ounce for the first time in 9
1/2 years and settled at $498.50, up $24.20 on the day.

Historically, both those PGMs have led the way for
gold. When the manipulation crowd is put in their
place, that is where the price of gold is going.

* Barrick Gold: The negative shareholder reaction to
Barrick Gold's announcement yesterday on its hedging
policies was so extreme that they just issued a press
release:

quot;Toronto, Feb. 8 -- Barrick Gold Corp. announced today
that it would not increase its hedging from the level
outlined in its annual outlook presentation
yesterday....

quot;The significant 9-million ounce reduction in the
committed forward-sale position reflects Barricks's
confidence in the gold price. It is approximately two-
thirds of the entire amount of gold supply from
producer hedging in the world last year, or two-thirds
of all the gold to be sold by the Bank of England.quot;

This is a significant development. Rarely does a
corporation of the stature of Barrick NEED to come out
with a clarification after a major presentation. The
tone of the press release is very bullish, and Barrick
eliminates the possibility of adding to its hedges.

Shareholder people power has spoken and been heard!

While still early in the Australian trading period, the
price of gold just popped $3 in access trading and the
volume is VERY HEAVY for so early in the evening. A
500-lot offer was just taken at the market.

The irony is Barrick's forward gold hedge reduction was
rather dramatic. They really did take a big step in
cutting back their forward sale program. When the price
of gold rises above $319 this year, the writers of the
gold calls have to be able to make delivery. That could
cause the gold market to go bonkers to the upside.

Gold traders responded so poorly to Barrick's
announcement because these supposed masters of public
relations blew it big-time, as they led off their press
release with statements like quot;Barrick is committed to
hedging,quot; followed by a comment that the company did
not intend to deliver into its forward sales as
Placer, Normandy, and Anglogold are doing. Then Barrick
touched on its increasing gold mine production.

Moans were heard all over the place.

It was as bad a PR snafu as I can remember. I was told
that Barrick CEO Peter Munk was going to be on CNBC
this morning. But he ran for the hills and sent Randall
Oliphant into the fray to take the heat. I thought that
Oliphant made a very good presentation, but the market
did not think so. Barrick shares plummeted and closed
today at 17 1/4, down almost 2 full points from highs
on Monday and only about 1 point off 52-week lows.

Barrick led the XAU into abysmal territory.

From the emails I received yesterday and today, I know
that Barrick's shareholders (the institutional crowd
included) went BERSERK, and that is why the companyw
was compelled to release this statement tonight.

Barrick officials are on a road show to present their
case to investors, and they needed a fast damage-
control statement. Thus this bullish gold press
release.

* Comex exchange regulators were all over the floor
today. Word is that Goldman Sachs and associates bought
heavy into the Placer and Barrick announcements (as
they knew what was coming), gunning to touch off delta
hedged written call options that had to be covered as
strike prices were breached. Then they sold into those
buy stops as panic buying kicked in. Then the market
collapsed as they drove it down.

This morning at about 7:30 gold was trading higher,
having been $1.90 higher for some time. Then, at the
same time, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, AIG, and
Societe Generale started posting low bids to create a
much softer opening, according to bullion dealers who
watched them do it.

This is clear collusion that even other bullion dealers
are witnessing now.

It will not be long before their bass is grass. Pardon
my Cafe French.

I received word today that U.S. Rep. Jack Metcalf has
joined our camp looking for answers from the U.S.
Treasury Department about suspicion that the gold
market is being manipulated.

The pressure is growing on Secretary Lawrence Summers
to fess up.

Hang in there. Keep the faith.