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Washington, Paris, And Then Johannesburg
By Bill Murphy, Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
May 27, 2000
At a time when so many are demoralized about gold,
there is a shining light out there that is trying to do
so much for all of us. He deserves to be heralded.
He is Joshua Wright of
a href=http://www.egroups.com/group/GoldWorldNethttp://www.egroups.com/group/Go...
Josh Wright may be likened to some of the most powerful
politicians in America who actually WANT to hear what
GATA has to say and are paying close attention to the
material we are sending them.
You will know much more about that soon.
I also suggest that Wright be contrasted with the likes
of some of the more boorish in the gold industry, such
as gold producer Normandy Mining of Australia.
This is from my September 18, 1999 commentary at
www.LeMetropoleCafe.com, quot;The Vancouver Affairquot;:
* * *
Robert Champion de Crespigny of Normandy also said he
was not opposed to the Bank of England's method of
sale, a pre-announced auction, saying the gold price
was quot;strongly affected by sentiment and could be badly
hit by sudden and unannounced large selloffs.quot; quot;We need
time to get used to this bidding-type process, which I
think it is not a bad way to go because it is exactly
the same (way) as the government sells treasury bonds.
I don't see it as a disaster at all.quot;
I was greatly dismayed about these comments and I
chastised Champion de Crespigny in my commentary. His
remarks matched with what my sources had told me about
his killing the millenium coin plan.
Then, out of nowhere in August, came the following,
which I included in my Midas commentary:
quot;Robert Champion de Crespigny was interviewed on the
Australian Broadcasting Co.'s late-night television
talk show, 'Lateline,' along with Haruko Fukuda, chief
of the World Gold Council, and Tony Warwick-Ching, a
consultant with Virtual Metals, a company that analyzes
the precious metals market.
quot;This is a summary of what he had to say:
-- quot;Investment banks are 'making a fortune MANIPULATING
the gold market.quot;
-- quot;Many important investment advisers have
'substantial conflicts of interest' when they advise
their clients against gold.
-- quot;The price of gold will revive because 'in the end
we'll have a much more transparent market.'
-- quot;The Bank of England is selling its gold against the
wishes of the British people.
-- quot;The price of gold will strengthen quickly when
people see what's going on in the market and the market
becomes more open.
-- quot;I'm certain gold's going up. It will be as quick as
oil was recently.quot;
It appeared that Champion de Crespigny had had some
sort of epiphany. Perhaps he would quot;championquot; our
efforts?
For that reason I called Normandy's Colin Jackson to
determine if I could meet with his chairman. Colin was
a delight to talk to. We discussed that possibility and
I sent him the document I had sent to Sen. Phil Gramm,
chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Colin gave it
to Champion de Crespigny to read. I told Colin I would
go just about any place to accomplish GATA's
objectives.
Initially, Colin thought I could meet Champion de
Crespigny on two dates in Miami in early September or
later in the month in New York. Great, I thought, we
are going to get the ball rolling.
About a week later and a week ago I received a phone
call from Colin, who told me plans had changed and I
had three choices: 1) Fly to Santiago, Chile, to meet
Champion de Crespigny; 2) meet him in a taxi in San
Francisco; or 3) meet with him in Vancouver, British
Columbia, after he arrived at 9 p.m. on a charter
flight. That is how busy his schedule was. But happy to
do whatever it took to kick in the right flank of our
battle plan, I decided to fly to Vancouver.
I left this last Tuesday morning and, while the trip
would be costly and take me away from my daily work, it
had to be done. The manipulation of the gold market is
becoming more obvious by the day as the price of oil
heads for $25 per barrel, copper and aluminum prices
make new highs, and bond yields remain above 6 percent
and look like they are headed for 6.5 percent amid
credit and inflation pressures. All of this and still
the gold mining companies remain silent about the
orchestration of the low gold price while the industry
is being slaughtered like lambs by the bullion dealers
and certain government officials.
Tuesday was a beautiful day in Vancouver and
illuminated this beautiful city. I arrived early in the
afternoon at the Delta Hotel at the airport. The
afternoon was mine to kill, as most of the executives
at Placer Dome would not be available because of a
board meeting in Toronto. I also had just heard that a
changeover of Placer Dome leadership was imminent. So I
took off for the Richmond mall to get a haircut and
pick up a pair of gold (plated) cufflinks in
preparation for my meeting with the Normandy chairman.
While travelling about the rest of the city, I could
not help but reflect on a promise I had made to an
Australian miner. He sent me an email right after the
formation of GATA, asking me to help him and the other
20,000 Australian miners who had been out of work for
two years. I'll never forget what he said: quot;Somebody
has to do something.quot;
It put a smile on my face to reflect on my promise to
him. I hoped that when I returned to Dallas I would be
able to let him know that somebody really was doing
something and had taken our message and his plea to a
leader of the Australian mining industry.
When I returned to the hotel there was a message for me
on the telephone. It was from Champion de Crespigny's
secretary, so I called her. She told me that she had
tried to reach me in Dallas and now called to the hotel
in Vancouver to tell me that the chairman was going to
be delayed and was sorry but he could not meet with me
now. She then told me he would not be arriving until 9
p.m. I then told her that Colin Jackson had told me
that was when he was scheduled to arrive in the first
place, so this was no problem for me at all. She seemed
a bit taken aback and then told me she would contact
the chairman and call me again.
Off I went to dinner at the adjacent Pier Restaurant to
meet with three Cafe members who came by to say hello.
Great guys: Jeff Dahl of SAMEX and broker Don Graham.
We hit it off wonderfully and I went back to my room at
8:45 to organize the material I had put together to
present to Champion de Crespigny.
The message light was blinking. I was to call
Australia.
The chairman's secretary then told me that the charter
flight was going to be delayed and that Champion de
Crespigny would not arrive at the Vancouver Airport
until midnight and, again, that the chairman was sorry;
maybe we could get together some other time. I'll never
forget one other thing she said -- it was something
about how this is not how they normally do business. (I
thought: I should hope not).
Well, I told her, quot;He has to check into the hotel. I
will be there just to say hello, introduce myself, and
chat as he checks in. That way he will know me when we
speak in the future.quot; She was silent.
I left a message at the front desk for the chairman
that I was in Room 924. At 11:30 p.m. I went down to
wait for him and sipped a cold one in the lounge. I had
direct view of all those coming in. It would not be a
big deal to spot anyone, as the Delta Hotel is not a
big one and hardly anyone was arriving at at this time
of night.
An hour went by and I went to the front desk and asked
if the chairman had checked in.
To my astonishment, the clerk said, quot;Yes, at 22:32.quot;
At this point my blood was starting to boil and I was
not a happy camper. I thought: How could anyone be so
rude? I had spent $2,000 and traveled more than 2,000
miles to try to help this man, his company, his
shareholders, and his employees, and he won't even
acknowledge me, even though his own associate set up
the appointment for me.
I have met many Australians over the years and have
found them to be the most delightful people. Fifteen
years ago I went to Auckland, New Zealand, with my
friend, the famed New Zealand Olympic runner Rod Dixon.
It was the year after he won the New York Marathon.
After visiting that lovely city and downing some brews
with him, I took off for Sydney and the Great Barrier
Reef. The trip was a blast and so were the Aussies I
met.
That is why I was so stunned at Champion de Crespigny's
behavior.
* * *
For eight months I have emailed, faxed, and phoned
Colin Jackson to try to understand why I was so rudely
treated in an attempt to help his own gold share
investors. I get no response.
We are talking about phone calls at 10 at night. I have
had it with him and the Normandy people.
Five other major gold producers have contributed to
GATA and yet I get this neglect from the Australian
Normandy gold people.
A long-time Cafe member is partly responsible for the
formulation of the coming Australian Gold Hall of Fame.
I suggested to him that Chairman Robert Champion de
Crespigny be introduced to their Hall of Shame. What do
you think?
The bottom line for GATA financial contributors and
GATA supporters in so many other ways: Colin Jackson
and his chairman have ripped you off of your time and
your money that you have given to GATA. That is a fact.
If this story hits home, I suggest that you request
that Normandy at least repay GATA's expenses so that we
can continue our fight for gold and gold company
shareholders.
I would also hope that many of you that have an
interest in this matter: Express your dismay to Colin,
whom I had thought at the time we first met was a very
decent chap, and his chairman at:
Even better, call them both.
On a positive and opposite note, I refer back to the
good soul, Josh Wright, who is going out of his way to
be so constructive for those of us who have an interest
in the gold market. Here is what he has just
distributed by email:
* * *
GoldWorldNet Weekend Summary Vol.002 May 27,2000
*** Gold Investors everywhere are invited to join this
forum at no charge. Your gold experience and
observations are important to our discussion.
Subscription is free to GoldWorldNet to post your
views. a href=http://www.egroups.com/group/GoldWorldNethttp://www.egroups.com/group/Go...
This is the second of what will be a weekly report.
Things are off to a good start here at quot;GoldWorldNetquot; I
would like to thank Ken Reser for suggesting this
forum.
GoldWorldNet Statistics:
Current Membership: 47
Posts to date: 201
GoldWorldNet Membership Country Representation:
Based on your email ISO country code. Countries are in
order of membership. Let me know if I miss your
country.
United States, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Germany
Esteemed members of GoldWorldNet Forum:
I have known Bob Johnson the longest and he has never
failed to provide anything less than concise and
accurate information. Bob does not get into politics,
he states the facts. Nothing less, Nothing more.
Bob Johnson has the best gold mega site in the World.
a href=http://goldsheet.simplenet.com/http://goldsheet.simplenet.com//a
Nick Laird of Australia is special for me since, he
was first to link to my original site quot;DeGoldmine
Linksquot;. Nick's Sharefin directories comprise multiple
sites and pages. These are a few.
a href=http://www.cairns.net.au/%7Esharefin/Markets/Master.htmhttp://www.cairns...
a href=http://www.sharelynx.net/Markets/Gold13.htmhttp://www.sharelynx.net/Mark...
Bill Buckler is the author of The Privateer Market
Letter. This Captain goes above and beyond the call of
duty in the great country of Australia.
a href=http://www.the-privateer.com/welcome.htmlhttp://www.the-privateer.com/we...
a href=http://www.the-privateer.com/gold.htmlhttp://www.the-privateer.com/gold....
GoldWorldNet Forum Non-Member Commendations:
* Brady Willett, webmaster of FallStreet.com, provides
a excellent daily news link summary. I am indebted to
Brady as a source of many news stories when I compile
the GoldWorldNet Morning News Links. Brady also links
GoldWorld.Net and I am grateful.
a href=http://www.fallstreet.com/index.htmlhttp://www.fallstreet.com/index.html/a
Peter Spina in the Czech Republic is the webmaster
GoldSeek.Com. Peter is a generous man and and has even
offered to share his cgi directory with me. I have
instead made a link to Daily Precious Metals Review,
which Peter provides.
a href=http://www.goldseek.com/http://www.goldseek.com//a
a href=http://www.goldseek.com/guestbook/newsdesk/newsdesk.cgi?http://www.golds...
t=archive.html
Nuts and Bolts:
I am settling into a format here. I will publish a
single post for morning news links on weekdays. On
Saturdays I will post the GoldWorldNet Weekend Summary.
GATA weekly announcements and newsletters links will be
compiled in the weekend summary. Everyone is encouraged
to post with your links and thoughts.
New members are cautioned against subscribing full
email options. This setting will deliver a email for
EVERY post at this forum. The best email settings for
most members is quot;no mail/web only.quot; My email setting
for this forum is the quot;Daily Digest,quot; which sends a
email for every 25 posts or daily whichever comes
first.
Conclusion:
Mark Butler contributed this link and it will be added
to my main page next week:
General Sources on Monetary History
a href=http://www.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/other.htmlhttp://www.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/...
Go GATA, go gold.
All My Best,
Josh Wright GoldWorldNet Moderator
a href=http://www.egroups.com/group/GoldWorldNethttp://www.egroups.com/group/Go... GoldWorld.Net
Webmaster a href=http://www.goldworld.nethttp://www.goldworld.net/a
