Das neue Südafrika

Killer virus threatens SA
05/04/2005 08:21 - (SA)

Carien Du Plessis

Steynsburg - The "deadliest virus" in the world might have killed a South African. Health authorities were waiting anxiously on Monday for the results of tests for the dreaded Marburg virus.

If the results are positive, the 50-year-old Eastern Cape resident will be the first person in South Africa to die of this contagious virus. Sapa reports that 150 people from the Uige province in Angola have already succumbed to the virus, similar to the notorious Ebola virus.

The dead South Africa travelled from Luanda about a week ago and spent time in Johannesburg. It is not clear what the rest of his itinerary was or how much time he spent in Johannesburg.

The man, whose identity has not been released, died in the hospital in Steynsburg near Aliwal North on Thursday night while he was waiting for treatment.

The World Health Organisation on Monday described the outbreak of the virus as "the deadliest yet".

A spokesperson for the Eastern Cape department of health, Sizwe Jupelo, said the deceased worked in Angola for about a year. It is possible that the man came into contact with the virus.

The man's body was taken to Nelson Mandela Hospital in Mthatha for a post-mortem and some of his tissue was sent to a laboratory in Pretoria for tests. Kupelo said the results of the tests should be known next week.

Eastern Cape MEC for health, doctor Bevan Goqwana, said the man vomited and had diarrhoea. Goqwana, who practised as a doctor before, said in his opinion it was unlikely that the man died because of the Marburg virus. "It could have been malaria."

The man saw a doctor in Molteno earlier this week and was treated for flu and bronchitis. However, he had no fever. The doctor in Molteno could not be reached on Monday.

Easily confused

The independent information service Med-Info says Marburg fever can easily be confused with more common diseases such as malaria, yellow fewer or typhoid fever because the symptoms are not specific.

Early symptoms include runny diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, severe chest and lung pains, sore throat and coughing. In most cases, the lungs and intestines start bleeding at a later stage and a characteristic rash breaks out.

The virus is highly contagious and is spread through close contact with bodily fluids such as saliva and sweat.

The carrier of the virus normally falls ill within three to seven days, but doctor Andrew Jamieson of Netcare Travel Clinics said there have been cases where carriers of the virus fell ill only after 21 days. This makes it much easier for travellers to spread the disease to other areas.

"It is more important than ever that South African hospitals be alert for possible cases of people who were in Angola within the last three weeks," he said.

A spokesperson for the national department of health, Solly Mabotha, said the department is aware of this case, but it is too early to speculate whether it is the Marburg virus or not.

Rand strong,another reason why:

Govt decision on Absa soon
Apr 04 2005 03:11:02:180PM Ray Faure

Email Story


Barclays mulls Absa conditions

Manuel meets Absa, Barclays

Fears over Absa control

Sanlam wants Absa's worth

Manuel gets the Barclays report

Barclays damps bid speculation

Barclays banks huge profits

Barclays on acquisition trail




Johannesburg - The government's decision on whether to give its blessing to UK bank Barclays plc's bid for a majority stake in local bank Absa is expected soon, with some speculating that it could even be as early as this week.
"It's going to be sooner rather than later. It can't take forever," a source close to the deal said on Monday.

This comes after what was described as an "exploratory" meeting between the two banks and Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni at the weekend.

Barclays has applied for regulatory approval to acquire a majority shareholding, of more than 49% but less than 74%, of Absa and such a transaction requires the consent of the finance minister.

"Pursuant to the receipt of the recommendations of the Registrar of Banks and the competition commission, the minister has considered material aspects of the proposed transaction," the National Treasury said in a statement.

The statement added that the meeting, held on Sunday morning, was exploratory and the outcome non-binding in nature.

The discussions included an evaluation of conditions under which such an acquisition may be permitted, taking into account the requirements of the Banks Act, ongoing maintenance of the soundness of the South African financial system and prevailing policy objectives.

No decision regarding regulatory approval will be made until such time as the representatives of Absa and Barclays have reverted to the minister on these matters, the statement said.

Public interest

The minister, in granting such approval, must be satisfied that the proposed acquisition will not be contrary to public interest, as well as the interests of the depositors, bank, and controlling company involved.

Sources close to the deal said that, to speed up the process, the parties were likely to come back as soon as possible to the minister on any outstanding issues.

What the conditions were that the Treasury was alluding to is not exactly known, but SARB Governor Tito Mboweni is on record as saying that any deal involving a takeover by a foreign bank would have to rest on the government's four-pillar policy.

Also, each application would have to be examined on a case-by-case basis and the supervisory regime would have to follow the internationally agreed framework of "home-host" banking supervision.

In reference to the latter, he says the success of such a system relies largely on both the home-country and the host-country regulator ensuring compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision and the various guidelines flowing therefrom.

Barclays has made it clear that it will not make a formal offer for Absa until it has the necessary regulatory approvals.

A controlling stake in the South African bank is likely to be costly.

With Absa's share price having rocketed from around R60 to over R75 a share since news first leaked that the two banks were in talks, it's speculated that the deal is likely to cost more than R25bn.
Should the Barclays deal succeed, it will likely pave the way for other foreign players such as Standard Chartered, which has made no bones about wanting to become a major player in South Africa, to pursue a major acquisition here.

Mining firms, unions prepare for wage war April 6, 2005

By Eric Onstad

The local gold sector, the world's biggest, faces escalating labour unrest as tenacious unions and profit-squeezed companies spar ahead of crucial wage talks.

Fund managers say they are shying away from the sector since talks for a wage contract that kicks in from July are likely to result in a bitter and costly industry-wide strike.

Recent labour action at Gold Fields and Harmony Gold gave both sides a chance to show their resolve.

A company-wide strike at Gold Fields fell apart last week after a court banned it, but 20 000 miners at Harmony are still off the job.

"I think it bodes very badly for the gold industry as a whole because ahead of the actual formal negotiations it seems to me that unions are flexing their muscles," said fund manager Patrice Rassou of Old Mutual Asset Managers.

Unions have the same perception about the companies.

"From the recent Harmony and Gold Fields strikes, it appears there is a hard line emerging" from the companies, said Moferefere Lekorotsoana, a spokesperson for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). "I think they want us to get tired, give up faith before the negotiations."

Sweeping wage and benefit negotiations, held every two years, are due to start with preliminary contacts later this month, gathering steam in May and June.

In 2003 the country's three biggest gold producers - AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony - accepted a 10 percent wage hike for the first year of a two-year pact hours before workers were due to go on strike.

Workers got a 7 percent rise for the second year, which turned out to be nearly double the inflation rate.

"It's going to be war. There's no way in hell they can give more than an inflation wage increase this time around," said analyst Leon Esterhuizen of Investec Securities.

Company officials have vowed in recent months to stick to a wage rise not much above inflation.

The consumer price index excluding mortgages hit a record low of 3.1 percent in February, according to data released last week.

Mining companies have been hit by a blistering rally in the rand that slashed export earnings, pressuring margins and pushing many operations into the red.

Analysts say jockeying in the NUM ahead of the retirement next year of general secretary Gwede Mantashe may result in militancy among those vying for the top spot.

"They need to prove to their members that if they are elected they will be defending their rights. So that makes it more likely they are going to be even more hardened," Rassou said.

Lekorotsoana confirmed that Mantashe would not stand for another term in May 2006, but dismissed views that this would spur militancy.

With or without a leadership contest, the NUM would stand up for its members, who had suffered under apartheid and would not accept anything less than the previous settlement, he said.

The union might also be emboldened after platinum workers went on strike last year, winning wage rises well above inflation, but analysts say gold companies with tighter margins are likely to tough it out longer.

For investors, the widening gap between the companies and workers is ominous.

"Unfortunately it's a lose-lose situation if we are going to get into a strike ... In terms of an investment position, I would be very wary at this point of time in terms of investing in the gold sector," Rassou said.

Gold quarterlies to paint lacklustre picture for SA miners
John Fraser

AS SA’s main gold producers prepare their quarterly reports for the three months to March, mining analysts are expecting to see evidence of more pain in the sector.

The strong rand has continued to play havoc with local producers, with marginal shafts losing money, and some being forced to close.

The rand remained strong for most of the March quarter, given a lower average rand gold price of about R82000/kg, down from just under R85000/kg in the December quarter.

In addition to this, the March quarter is traditionally the worst of the year, as it includes the period of the Christmas and New Year break, when mines are shut and production ceases.

“I can’t think there will be much good news,” said a Johannesburg-based gold analyst yesterday.

He said the big three producers — AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony — would all be reporting financial data, while SA’s fourth-largest gold producer, DRDGOLD, would release limited data related to production, not finances.

“Typically, production is down in the March quarter because of the days lost to the holidays, and getting back to full output,” the analyst said.

“We can expect to see a fall in production for the last quarter of 8%-10%, and that’s not good.”

Normal seasonal problems have been compounded by industrial action — this had mainly been targeted at Harmony, with a brief dispute involving Gold Fields.

DRDGOLD has endured the most dramatic quarter, having liquidated its North West operations near Klerksdorp, slashing its local output in half.

“Clearly, the liquidation of the North West operations means that the optionality on this production base is now lost to investors,” said Merrill Lynch analyst David Hall in a note published last month.

However, “this action means that DRDGOLD can continue as a going concern and effectively cuts their cash costs by $80/oz, down to about $310/oz”.

“The smaller company will now produce around 480000oz/year of gold (excluding the Crown Recoveries operation) of which 66% comes from international operations.”

Another analyst said Gold Fields and Harmony were continuing to spend big money related to the hostile takeover bid by Harmony for its rival — on lawyers, merchant bankers and spin doctors.

“This will boost their corporate costs — and Harmony has also been spending on restructuring, including retrenchments,” he said.

The analyst said it would also be interesting to see how all the South African gold producers were doing from their non-South African assets, which can be far more profitable, as they tend to be dollar-based, and the gold price has done well in dollar terms.

“I will be looking to see what progress AngloGold Ashanti is making in turning around the former Ashanti assets, in particular.”

Another analyst said while the rand gold price has improved in recent weeks, as the dollar weakened, the effect of this on the last quarter would not be large “as the weakening of the rand came too late to have a major impact on revenues. But, looking forward, things might be getting a bit more comfortable for South African gold producers.”

However, cost inflation has continued to have an effect, particularly with the rise in oil prices and robust steel prices.

All major mining companies have been hard at work on cost-cutting efforts, and further details of progress is likely to be given with the quarterly results reports.

AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony and Gold Fields are all due to report in the week of April 25, with DRDGOLD’s production report expected at the end of the previous week.

Rand runs on exporter $ sales
Apr 06 2005 09:22:11:240AM Alison Maltz


Bonds follow rand firmer


Johannesburg - The rand was trading at its best level against the dollar in two weeks in early trade on Wednesday, boosted by exporter dollar sales in a thin market.
Currency traders expected a fairly range bound day from here, with the local unit looking to the euro for direction.

At 08:45, the rand was quoted at R6.1176/US$ from an overnight close of R6.1951. It was quoted at R7.8749 to the euro from a previous R7.9515 and at R11.5290 against sterling from Tuesday's R11.6430.

The euro was quoted at $1.2890 from $1.2852 late on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $425.55 a troy ounce from a previous $424.75/oz.

"We saw lovely local exporters just above the 6.15 level who gave the rand a smack lower (stronger)," a currency trader said.

He added that the move had occurred at around 07:40 before the local market opened.

The trader said that the exporters appeared to have used more than one bank.

This, coupled with a thin market, exaggerated the extent of the rand's rally.

"From here I think the rand will just bounce around. R6.15 should be toppish for the day and maybe the rand will go just below R6.10.

"It should watch the euro," he concluded.

The rand tends to follow the euro because the Eurozone is South Africa's largest trading partner.

House prices reached the sky:

http://www.finance24.com/artic…ArticleID=1518-25_1685437

Bill Bonner, with more views from South Africa...
*** We're down here at the bottom of Africa looking at a business. It is a publishing business we began more than three years ago. In that time, the business went to being tiny, insignificant and money losing, to a small, but profitable, enterprise. Now, we are growing...and we hope to become more profitable as time goes by. But the project took years already...and considerable investment. It will take many more years for employees to learn their trades.. :D,.to launch new products...to explore new markets...to make mistakes and recover from them.

But this is how a business really works. You do not make money overnight. Instead, you get something going, you invest money, you wait...and if you work hard, and are lucky, the thing pays off. Houses, too, take time. You have to live in them to get a return on your investment.

You may say, yes...but house prices are soaring. And, yes, you are right. As near as we can tell...the fastest, surest way to make money in America today is to find a partner who is penniless. Then, go to the nation's hottest area and buy as many super-expensive houses as you can...with no-money-down. Make sure he signs as the buyer, not you. That way, if you're wrong, you won't lose anything. And if the housing bubble continues to expand...sell them all.

But don't confuse this with investing. It's pure speculation...a series of one-night stands that could be very enjoyable. The trouble is, most people don't know what they're doing. They begin to think there's something magic about real estate that makes prices always go up. They begin to think they can't lose. Then, when the bubble pops, they become the biggest losers of all.

Public servants in fraud scam

Apr 06 2005 07:24:31:140AM



Cape Town - The South African Government is probing 37 000 public servants who are allegedly receiving various forms of grants fraudulently and costing the government "lots of money", says Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya.

He said this on Tuesday in his Budget vote at Parliament. "We are currently working closely with the various law enforcement agencies such as the Special Investigations Unit, the Scorpions and the South African Police Service to investigate fraud and corruption related to public servants and syndicates."

Skweyiya told a briefing of journalists earlier that the suspected fraud involved about R1.5 billion.

Some of the cases may involve teachers and nurses who had retired and believed that they could also receive old age pensions, but this was not the case, he said.

In the meantime about 30 000 people had come forward to ask for indemnity for receiving social grants fraudulently. The deadline ended last month.

He said, however, that public servants and syndicates would not be granted indemnity - they would be prosecuted.

Just as with those who had applied for indemnity, the state would save about R120 million a year, said the minister.

Inadequate systems The minister pointed to the problem of having an inadequate computer checking system - the Department of Home Affairs was still attempting to set up the Hanis system after seven years of trying to implement it. This system should be used to double check identities of those receiving grants - but the system was not functioning.

He said the problem would be tackled by the soon-to-be-established South African Social Security Agency which would take over the role of paying grants - including old age, disability and child grants - from the various provinces. Each and every employee would be screened and a chief executive officer would be appointed in due course. He noted that about R70bn per year went to social grant beneficiaries.

Rand under R6.10/$ on reserves

Apr 07 2005 09:28:05:003AM Helmo Preuss



Johannesburg - The rand firmed in early trade on Thursday after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said it cut back its US dollar buying to add to reserves to only $282m in March from $461m in February.
Currency traders expect a fairly range bound day with the range between R6.04 and R6.14, with the unit looking to the euro for direction.

The rand tends to follow the euro because the Eurozone is South Africa's largest trading partner.

At 08:52, the rand was quoted at R6.0976/US$ from an overnight close of R6.1338 and Tuesday's close of R6.1951. It was quoted at R7.8591 to the euro from a previous R7.8802 and Tuesday's close of R7.9515.

The rand was at R11.4880 against sterling from Wednesday's close of R11.5380 and Tuesday's R11.6430.

The euro was quoted at $1.2926 from $1.2872 late on Wednesday and $1.2852 late on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $427.03 a troy ounce from a previous $426.70/oz.

"The rand got a boost from the reduced buying by the SARB, which is likely to be a feature in April as well.

That is why the rand is stronger against all the currencies, not just the dollar," a currency trader said.

The SARB said opportunities for buying dollars were limited at times by the sizeable fluctuations during March in the major international currencies.

The July 2004, foreign exchange reserves exceeded $10bn for the first time and stood at $10.251bn at the end of that month. They stood at a record $14.162bn at the end of March.

A total of $1.706bn in gold reserves lifted total gross reserves to $15.868bn at the end of March.

AFX reported that the US dollar rose against the yen and lost ground to the euro on Wednesday, following a third consecutive session without US economic reports.

In late trade the dollar was up 0.3% at 108.62 yen, while the euro was up 0.2% at $1.2869.

"The market is mainly marking time until later this month when we get inflation data that will help us understand what the Federal Reserve will do about interest rates," said Mike Malpede, Senior Currency Analyst at Refco.

The market on Wednesday focused largely on a recommendation from Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan that legislators would have to limit the size of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac portfolios - as well as tighten oversight of the agencies - to reduce risk to the financial system.

Es waere eigentlich vernuenftigt erstmal abstand von den oben genannte aktien zu nehmen bis sich der markt/rand sich echt aendert.
Selbst wenn man nicht gleich bei Abfahrt im zug sitzt wuerde ich folgendes empfehlen. Erst aufspringen wenn die Aktien ueber eine woche sich bei diesen Randkurs gehalten haben. Ihr koennt ja bei dieser Station einsteigen wenn ihr glaubt der Zug faehrt eine lange strecke.:

HMY R 55.00
GFI R 78.00
DRD R 8.00

Chart technisch gesehen waeren sie dann aus dem Schneider.
Dann aber wieder -12% Stoploss setzen von letzten high.

Nur ein Vorschlag !

Verdient euer geld in der zwischenzeit wo anders und blockiert euch nicht mit Aktien deren zukunft z.Zt, ungewiss ?(ist.

Zeit ist Geld ! und die zeit heilt ! :))

Gruss

Eldorado

News Today

Gold major outlines exploration focus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 2004 annual report of gold-miner and, for many South Africans still, iconic major company AngloGold Ashanti is filled with information.

You want a summary of mining rights and mining property titles in Brazil? It is there, on page 49, as is a much more detailed account of Ghanaian mining legislation; in fact, the com- pany’s 2004 annual report gives greater and lesser degrees of detail on the mining rights and property titles in Argentina, Australia, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania and the US, as well as Brazil and Ghana and, of course, South Africa.

This just emphasises that AngloGold Ashanti is now, and has been for years, a company that operates globally.

It is actively mining in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania, the US, and Zimbabwe, as well as in South Africa.

Look at the production figures – last year the group’s gold production was an impressive 6 052 000 oz; but, of this, 3 079 000 oz came from its South African operations and 2 973 000 oz from its non-South African oper-ations.

AngloGold Ashanti now produces almost exactly half its gold outside South Africa (49%, in fact). Note further – the figure for non-South African production was 27% higher in 2004 than in 2003.

Of course, the figures for the rest of the world were boosted by the Ashanti merger, which brought in an attributable 485 000 oz of Ghanaian gold last year; on the other hand, the group sold its stakes in US miner Jerritt Canyon in 2003 and in Australia’s Union Reefs in 2004 – the former contributed 107 000 oz to the 2003 figures and the latter 74 000 oz.

Further, in South Africa, the Ergo tailings dams retreatment operation contributed 203 000 oz to the total gold produced in this country during 2003 and 222 000 oz last year; Ergo is now in the process of closing down.

Gold ounces produced, however, do not automatically translate into profits – last year the group’s Ghanaian operations generated an attributable adjusted operating loss of $22-million.

Add up all the attributable adjusted operating profits and deduct the attributable adjusted operating losses of all of the group’s operations and you come up with $400-million on the plus side (the group’s total adjusted operating profit is higher than this, at $434-million – it also earns income from other sources) and, again, almost half ($198-million) is from operations outside South Africa. Of course, South Africa remains by far the single largest gold reserve for the group.

Adding together proved and probable reserves, the contained gold in the group’s South African orebodies comes to 1 217,5 t, out of the group’s global total of 2 454 t – but notice, the South African figure now represents just under half of AngloGold Ashanti’s total gold reserves.

Turning to resources, and adding up measured, indicated and inferred, the contained gold in South Africa is estimated at 3 638,7 t, with a global total of 6786 t.

This time, the South African figure is over half of the total, but not by much.

In reserves, Ghana ranks second, with 367,3 t of contained gold; Tanzania third, with 281,1 t; Australia fourth, with 191,5 t; the US fifth, with 120,6 t; and Brazil sixth, with 86,9 t.

(In terms of resources, the rankings are the same, except that Brazil and the US swap places.) Another interesting statistic is the differing productivity levels of the group’s various regions – for South Africa, it is 255 g per employee; for Ghana 376 g; for Australia 539 g; and for Brazil 1 117 g.

Given all these facts and figures, and the already long life of gold-mining in South Africa, it is not surprising that less than a fortieth of the group’s exploration expenditure last year was spent in South Africa – $2-million out of $81-million.

All exploration in this country was brownfields and, globally, brownfields exploration accounted for $44-million of the exploration expenditure, leaving $37-million for greenfields work.

About $11-million of the greenfields exploration was carried out in ‘new frontiers’, namely China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mongolia and, in the US, the State of Alaska.

However, the country which saw the greatest greenfields exploration expenditure was Peru, with $7-million, while the country with the greatest brownfields exploration expenditure was Brazil, with $10-million; add $1-million in greenfields work and Brazil’s total exploration expenditure of $11-million was the greatest for any single country or region; Australia and South-East Asia ranked second at $10-million, of which $6-million was brownfields and $4-million greenfields.

Sadly, 32 of the group’s employees were killed in work-related accidents last year – 31 of them in South Africa and one in Mali, at the Morila mine.

What this all adds up to is that AngloGold Ashanti is no longer the helpless hostage to the fortunes of one country that it once was; but it remains firmly rooted in Africa and is clearly very far from leaving, or even thinking of leaving, South Africa.

Die zahlen sind offiziell und wesentlich hoeher zur zeit:

EXISTING ESTIMATES BY THE INDUSTRY

The only existing estimate of the extent of the theft of gold from mines and refineries in South Africa is the figure provided by the Chamber of Mines of 30 tons valued at approximately R1.58 billion that is estimated to have been stolen during 1996.
This figure has been mentioned on a number of occasions by the industry. An attempt to establish the origin of this figure revealed the following facts.

During a visit to a European gold refinery, an official from the South African gold industry was asked what the annual figure was for the theft of gold in South Africa. According to the official concerned, he mentioned the figure of 11 tons for the year 1996. The European refinery representative apparently dismissed this figure claiming that the refinery itself had bought approximately 25 tons of South African gold from unofficial sources during 1996. During a trip to another refinery in Europe, the South African visitor was informed that the refinery in question had bought approximately 7 tons of South African gold from unofficial sources during 1996. The information from both refineries was given to the South African during casual discussions and on an informal basis. Neither of the two refinery representatives was apparently prepared to divulge more information and there was no follow-up to obtain confirmation of these figures from the refineries concerned.

On the basis of this information, the South African official concluded that a conservative estimate of gold stolen in South Africa during 1996 was 30 tons for the year 1996, although he believed it to be closer to 50 or 60 tons. The information given to the South African visitor could not be verified, nor is there any basis on which to suggest that the information supplied by the European refinery representatives was false. The information is unconfirmed and uncorroborated, however, and was published in the Annual Report of the Chamber without any closer scrutiny of the claims having been undertaken. In order to have a degree of credibility, estimates should be based on projections or calculations derived from a factual basis that can be verified.

Even though there are no facts available on the basis of which the figure of 30 tons can be confirmed or refuted, the assessments made in this study were not influenced by it. The point of departure for the study was therefore that the extent of theft from gold mines and refineries in South Africa was unknown.

POLICE STATISTICS

The Diamond and Gold Branch of the South African Police Service (SAPS) rendered every assistance possible in support of this study. Its national statistics relating to the recovery of unwrought gold and arrests, among others, are set out in figure 1. The information was supplied by the Pretoria headquarters of the Diamond and Gold Branch based, in turn, on statistics supplied by local Diamond and Gold Branch offices in the provinces.

Figure 1: Police statistics: Theft of gold, 1994-1998
Unwrought gold 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Total
1994-1998
Unlawful purchases
Arrests 101 92 153 98 82 526
Cash paid to suspects, for gold recovered (R) 514 003 827 852 546 926 1 390 022 4 302 922 7 581 725
Unlawful possession/theft
Arrests 1 488 1 960 1 607 1 667 1 413 8 135
Mass (kg) 179 370 151 236 287 1 223
Value (R) 8 959 215 18 486 057 7 571 655 11 774 887 14 368 263 61 160 077
Found and/or seized
Mass (kg) 28 1 24 22 87 162
Value (R) 1 421 888 6 002 1 214 721 1 122 304 4 333 032 8 097 947
Source: Diamond and Gold Branch, SAPS, Pretoria, 1999
"Summary: Mass and value of gold recovered by the police, 1994-1998"
Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Total
1994-1998
Mass (kg) 207 371 175 258 374 1385
Value (R) 10 381 103 18 492 059 8 786 376 12 897 191 18 701 295 69 258 024

The mass of unwrought gold recovered nationally by the Diamond and Gold Branch can only be an indicator, albeit a very inadequate one, of the prevalence of theft of gold from mines. These statistics are inevitably based on estimates. Recovered unwrought gold consists of different concentrations, ranging from the gold-bearing ore which thieves carry out of gold mines to well refined gold. To attach an accurate value to such recoveries is difficult. The gold content of a bag of gold-bearing material can only be established once such ore has passed through the processing of a gold mine. Even then such ore is not refined separately from the regular ore recovered by the mine. In practice, the police return unwrought gold that they confiscate to the mine from which, in their assessment, such unwrought gold or gold-bearing material originates. The mine in question thereafter refines the gold bearing material and informs the police of the mass and value of extracted gold. The prime indicator of the extent of unwrought gold seized or found by the police is therefore the value that mines place on the gold-bearing material received from the police.

The general approach of police headquarters in such cases is to attach a value of R50 to a gram of refined gold. When a mine therefore informs the police that the value of the stolen gold-bearing material handed in by them for processing was R100 000, the police will record the mass of this gold as 2 000 grams. In order to compute annual national statistics, the police add up the value that mines have attached to the unwrought gold and gold-bearing material that were supplied to them for processing and divide the sum by 50 in order to arrive at the estimated mass of the gold. This was also the method applied in arriving at the mass of unwrought gold recovered as set out in figure 1 below. The valuation of R50 per gram of gold is in fact conservative if account is taken of the fact that the average gold price on the London gold market for the years 1994 to 1998 was R53.39 per gram.11

This method of computing the mass of stolen gold recovered by the police has its shortcomings. Precisely how do mines deal with stolen gold that the police return to them? Do all mines follow the same procedures when processing and determining the value of such unwrought gold? Do all Diamond and Gold branches in the country follow a uniform approach in this regard? It is well known that some top dealers in illicit gold sometimes add gold from Kruger coins to gold bought on the illegal market when smelting the gold for export. This happened in the widely publicised Chemfix case. Should the police confiscate such a consignment, or should the South African syndicate leader sell such gold to a European refinery, the mass of this gold will clearly not provide an accurate reflection of how much gold was stolen from mines and refineries in South Africa. The question of how to reflect the mass of detected gold stolen from mines and refineries is therefore an aspect that requires further examination by both the police and the gold mining sector.

It has happened, for example, that the police and mines have agreed that the police would not publish information relating to the mass or value of confiscated gold-bearing material returned to the mines. Such information would then clearly not form part of police statistics and would only be available to the gold mines. This was the case in the Welkom area with gold-bearing material that was confiscated during raids on the well-known G Hostel in Thabong township outside Welkom. Clearly, such ad hoc arrangements between the police and the mining industry make it very difficult to obtain accurate statistics relating to the extent of the theft of gold from mines.

Even if the national statistics supplied by the police were an accurate reflection of the mass of stolen gold recovered by them, it is clear that what they recover can only be a fraction of the actual volumes that are stolen on an annual basis. The regional case study referred to below, and other indicators to which reference is made in this study, confirm this assertion.

The mass of gold in the summary that follows was arrived at by attaching a value of R50 per gram, based on a division of the total value of the gold recovered by 50. If the actual average gold price per gram over the five-year period — R53.39 per gram — had been used as a measure, the total mass of the gold recovered by the police over this period would have been 1 297 kilograms instead of the 1 385 kilograms reflected above.

Police statistics (as illustrated in figures 2, 3 and 4) show two different trends. While the number of arrests for unlawfully purchasing gold, for being in unlawful possession of gold and for the theft of gold has shown a gradual decline since the peak reached in 1995, the figures relating to the mass and value of gold recovered by the police show a marked increase since 1996. It suggests that the quantity of gold-bearing material that is being recovered or confiscated by the police is higher per person arrested than in the past. This could also indicate a greater sophistication among gold smugglers and thieves enabling them to deal in larger quantities of gold. This would mean that they are more difficult to arrest than was the case three or four years ago. The decrease in the number of arrests, however, could also have been influenced by a general shortage of personnel and resources in the various Diamond and Gold Branches in the country.

Have a look !

http://www.goldseiten-forum.de…d=&postid=44454#post44454

@Hi,
Eldorado,

für mich ist es schon klar, die US-Grossfinanz ( Rockefeller und Rothschild steuern alles über den Dollar),behersscht alles,die holen sich jetzt alles für ihren kaputten Dollar, Schlüssel-Industrien, Öl, ect. und was nicht gekauft werden kann wird erbomt.
Als Kennedy die Fed verstaatlichen wollte gab es ihn nicht mehr, das muß ein doch zum Nachdenken brinngen oder?
gruß hpoth

# Hi Eldorado,

mich machte damals schon die Äußerungen von dem Guru Konstalany er war ja immer nur für den Dollar, ich hatte mal auf einem Seminar die Ehre gehabt mich mit ihm anzulegen wegen den Dollarwert, er sagte mir junger Mann sie haben keine Ahnung was wir alles noch machen werden mit dem Dollar.Das gab mir schon zu denken, er war ja gegen Gold eingestellt. jedenfalls zu diesem Zeitpunkt, für ihn gab es nur eins der Dollar und immer wieder der Dollar.Bekam von ihm den Rat mich am Dollar auszurichten das ist die Zukunft, so meinte er.Natürlich habe ich das nie befolgt.

gruß hpoth

hpopth

A universal awakening and you'll see that empires won't last forever.
Also not the US Empire and it's Dollar notes.Nothing lasts forever ,they say. Every dog gets his day !

Gruss

XEX

9. April 2005, Neue Zürcher Zeitung



Südafrika erwägt die Schaffung einer Metallbörse
Machbarkeitsstudie in Arbeit


London, 8. April. (Bloomberg) In Südafrika soll eine Terminbörse für Metallkontrakte entstehen. Damit will der weltgrösste Produzent von Edelmetallen vom stark wachsenden Handel mit Futures profitieren. Gemäss einem Rohstoffspezialisten beim Ministerium für Bodenschätze und Energie hofft die Regierung in Pretoria, dass die Stellung von Johannesburg als Finanzzentrum mit der Lancierung einer solchen Börse gestärkt würde. An dem Markt würden voraussichtlich Kontrakte auf Gold, Platin, Palladium und Ferrochrom gehandelt.

Im vergangenen Jahr erreichte der Umsatz mit Metallfutures und -optionen an der New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) ein Rekordniveau. Die Zahl der gehandelten Gold-Kontrakte beispielsweise stieg um 22%. Auch die Preise für Metalle und andere Rohstoffe sind in den vergangenen beiden Jahren deutlich gestiegen. Ferrochrom, das für die Herstellung von Edelstahl verwendet wird, wird bis jetzt noch an keiner Börse gehandelt. - Zurzeit wird im Auftrag von Südafrika eine Machbarkeitsstudie erstellt, die noch im laufenden Jahr abgeschlossen werden soll. Finanziert wird sie vom National Economic Development and Labour Council, einer Allianz von Regierung, Unternehmen und Gewerkschaften. Welche Unternehmen an dem Projekt beteiligt sind, war beim Ministerium für Bodenschätze und Energie nicht zu erfahren. Die heutige South African Futures Exchange bietet Terminkontrakte auf Agrarprodukte wie Mais und Weizen an.

ANC, SACP 'face same challenge'

10/04/2005 10:19 - (SA)

Durban - President Thabo Mbeki told a special congress of the South African Communist Party in Durban on Saturday that the SACP and African National Congress faced "common challenges".

He told delegates that the ANC was interested in the decisions made by the SACP congress because it would "influence what the ANC thinks, what the alliance thinks and what we will do".

Mbeki jokingly told delegates that he had a problem with the ANC and their two-term presidential policy.

He said he understood that the SACP wanted to run independent of the ANC in the elections and if this decision was taken he would join the party "providing you remove the two-term limitation".

Mbeki said it was important for the SACP special congress to discuss the focus of the party and its relation to the ANC. The president also hit out at 40 000 civil servants who defrauded old age pensioners and people who were supposed to get child support grants, questioning how they could call themselves revolutionaries.

On the issue of Zimbabwe, Mbeki said that three million people had died in the Congo because of war and people were not talking about it. However, an "extraordinary noise" was made when ten or a dozen people died in Zimbabwe.
He pointed out that in a period of about ten years from 1993, 300 000 people were killed in Burundi.

He said there was no noise about that but "we know everything about Zimbabwe".

Before Mbeki arrived, Gauteng based businessman Patrice Motsepe was seen hugging the SACP's Philip Dexter and dancing and singing along to an SACP song which says "we don't want a capitalist agenda". The congress ends on Sunday.

American senator Russell Feingold has launched a scathing attack on President Thabo Mbeki in the US Congress. He has accused Mbeki of helping President Robert Mugabe's regime in its quest to cling to power at all costs at the expense of human rights.

The senator described the South African leader's act of sweeping rights abuses in Zimbabwe "under the rug" and helping Mugabe remain in power as "one of the greatest disappointments of all".

Feingold stopped short of calling on the Bush administration to review its relations with South Africa in an address to Congress this week.

His and senator John McCain's private correspondence to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has prompted the Bush administration to take an even tougher stance on Zimbabwe.

Südafrika boomt ... und es kracht

von Bill Bonner

"Sehen Sie all diese Abschleppwagen auf der Straße?" fragte mich meine Gastgeberin kürzlich. Ich war gerade auf dem Weg zum protzigsten Restaurant, das ich je gesehen habe – ein Lokal, das 'Bellgables' heißt und ziemlich weit vom Stadtzentrum entfernt ist. Ich bestellte zum Abendessen ein niedliches Mitglied aus der Familie der Antilopen, Springbok genannt, dass ich mit einer großzügigen Menge Pinot Noir vom Kap runterspülte. Das Mahl war köstlich, und die Fahrt absolut wert.

"Sie haben kürzlich herausgefunden, dass einige von den Abschleppern an den Ampeln herumgepfuscht haben, so dass sie in beide Richtungen grün anzeigten. Dann mussten sie nur noch auf den Unfall warten und konnten die beteiligten Autos abschleppen."

Das freie Unternehmertum blüht auf der Landstraße.

"Unmittelbar nach den Wahlen [Nachdem die Apartheid abschafft war] machten sich viele Leute Sorgen. Sie haben das Land verlassen – und sind überwiegend nach England und Australien gegangen. Auch jetzt reisen die Südafrikaner immer noch viel. Wenn ich nach London komme, höre ich Afrikaans in der U-Bahn. Neuerdings scheinen sie alle wieder zurückzukommen, weil es hier so viele Möglichkeiten gibt. Es ist wild ... und weit ... wissen sie, so wie Amerika einmal war."
http://www.investor-verlag.de