An exchange with a devastated gold investor in Canada

8:40p EDT Tuesday, December 19, 2000

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

With its weekly commentary for December 11-15, the
World Gold Council has taken note of GATA's lawsuit
against suppression of the price of gold -- but without
comment.

Not that we really needed the encouragement. You know
us cranks and bitter-enders; nothing will stop us,
short of a public confession by Larry Summers, the
liquidation of Goldman Sachs, and the indictment of a
few of its top officials. But any old ordinary member
of the gold community might wonder just what the WGC
thinks about GATA's lawsuit and the complaint spelled
out so clearly by Reg Howe -- might wonder whether the
WGC, which exacts a lot of tribute from most of the
gold mining companies in the world, has even read the
complaint and considered looking into the matter and
adjusting its operations accordingly.

Down at the bottom, the WGC's commentary invites
inquiry to its New York staff member, George Milling-
Stanley. I wouldn't want to clog his email box or tie
him up on the phone, but if someone less partisan about
this issue happens to contact him for comment on the
lawsuit and gets a response, I would be glad to share
it with the membership.

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

* * *

World Gold Council
Weekly Gold Market Commentary
11 December to 15 December 2000

www.gold.org/Gedt/Wgmc/Wc001219.htm

Gold started the week little changed, fixing at $272.50
in London on Monday morning, but soon went on the
defensive as fund selling in New York quickly put
downward pressure upon prices. At the same time the
view that the protracted U.S. presidential election was
close to resolution served to support the dollar, and
as the euro slipped, so gold weakened in sympathy,
falling to $270.70 later that day. Quotations steadied
a little on Tuesday helped by a slight upturn in the
euro and held above $270, but fund selling returned on
the next day and gold slid towards $268 before
uncovering fresh support.

On Thursday the market held nervously above $269; a
further recovery in the euro seemed to have little
impact, the market focussing a little more upon the
retreat of oil prices below $30, while the fall of
silver to contract lows on Comex also tended to
undermine confidence in gold. Although silver continued
to fall on Friday gold belatedly began to react to the
weakening dollar, recovering to $270.30 at the AM fix
in London. Activity was beginning to fall away at the
approach of the holiday season and gold traded narrowly
over the rest of the day, ending the week in New York
at $270.65/271.15.

The commitment of traders report as published by the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed further
short-covering taking place on Comex during the week
ended December 12, where the net short position of the
large speculators fell from 26,921 contracts
(equivalent to 83.7 tonnes) to 17,942 contracts (55.8
tonnes). Since then open interest on Comex has risen
from 110,455 contracts to 113,626 contracts, confirming
that fresh speculative short selling has been a feature
over the past few days. Gold lease rates barely moved
over the week, the one-month rate held unchanged at
0.65875 percent while the 12-month rate eased slightly
from 1.27% to 1.25 percent.

At the U.S. District Court in Boston, supported by the
Gold Anti Trust Action Committee (GATA), a lawsuit was
filed accusing the Bank for International Settlements,
officials from the U.S. Treasury Department and the
U.S. Federal Reserve, as well as five investment houses
of conspiring to suppress the price of gold. The
lawsuit also alleges price fixing, securities fraud,
and breach of fiduciary duty.

This is the last Gold Market Commentary for 2000; we
wish all our readers an enjoyable holiday season. The
next commentary will be published in the week beginning
January 8, 2001.

----------------

Market Commentary is a review of the major events
shaping opinion in the gold market during the past
week. It is compiled by council staff in London and New
York based on contacts in the market and a network of
WGC offices around the world.

If you have any questions or comments on this input,
please address them to: George Milling-Stanley in our
New York office: Tel. 212 317 3800, Fax. 212 688 0410
or email: george . milling _ stanley @ wgcny.gold.org.
(Close up the spaces in the address above.)