Thai Guru's Gold und Silber ... (Informationen und Vermutungen)

"Never before has the world’s dominant economic power lived this far beyond its means. Most believe that America is special -- that it deserves special dispensation from current account, debt, and saving adjustments. Just as history is littered with the remnants of other such new paradigms, I continue to believe that the United States will have to pay a steep price for its imbalances. As America’s twin deficits move inexorably toward the flashpoint, there is a growing risk that its external financing terms could take a sudden turn for the worse. The dollar, US equities, and credit markets strike me as most vulnerable to such a development."

Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley's chief economist

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/…usiness/story_3706527.asp

The Midas touch of gold charms investors

SATISH JOHN

Mumbai, Sept.1:

Indians buy Rs 40,000 crore worth gold every year in the form of jewellery and investments, according to the World Gold Council. The total holding of the yellow metal in the country stands at 13,000 tonnes worth Rs 6,60,000 crore.

A part of the annual buying comes from housewives stowing away money in monthly instalments with the local jeweller. Their purchase aggregate Rs 4,000 crore every year, managing director Sanjeev Agarwal said.

Many jewellers cater to the growing demand by offering gold chit schemes that allow the customer to buy gold ornaments or coins from the same dealer for a consolidated amount paid in instalments.

Zitat

“Housewives save over Rs 4,000 crore every year in recurring deposits to buy gold jewellery, and all of it is done outside the banking sector,” said Agarwal.

The council said India, the US, West Asia, Japan and China account for 55 per cent of the global gold purchase. The annual buying of Rs 40,000 crore comprises mostly new gold that is imported, which accounts for 600 tonnes valued at Rs 36,000 crore, while 200 tonnes is recycled.

The gold held in the country roughly equals Rs 6,00,000 crore saved in banks and Rs 60,000 crore in mutual funds.

According to Agarwal, household savings of Rs 50,000 crore are held as gold bars and coins.

India buys 80-100 tonnes of gold bars and coins amounting to Rs 6000 crore every year. In fact, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and NCAER indicated in a joint study that after bank deposits, gold was the second most preferred savings instrument.

World Gold Council, an association that promotes the usage of the yellow metal, has been advocating that gold as an investment option is “superior to other alternative asset classes”.

It can be a currency hedge during volatile times and an effective guard against inflation. While gold prices have skyrocketed in the recent past, all investments give a true return over long term, Agarwal said. “It is the only universal asset with no geographical, religious or socio-economic boundaries,” he added.

“The performance of gold is not linked to that of any other company, industry or government and acts as an insurance against the uncertainties of different currencies, due to its inverse relationship with the dollar,” he said.

The council has been advocating that an investment portfolio with an allocation in gold improves the consistency of performance during both stable and unstable times.

The council has been pleading with the government authorities to reduce customs duties and allow banks to offer gold loans to local jewellers.

The council’s argument has been that jewellers consume over Rs 35,000 crore gold every year.

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September 1 - Gold $408.30 down $1.20 – Silver $6.78 up 3 cents

Impasse / The "Arrogant Nitwit" Dennis Gartman On To China For The LBMA

Zitat

In this age of loony leaders
And blatant tommyrot,
Do you feel you can distinguish
Hussein and who is not?...
Erik Barnouw; Pepper...and Salt; The Wall Street Journal (New York), Mar 7, 1991.

I will leave it for you to decide if this quote is referring to the gold producer CEO’s, or the LBMA, who refuse to deal with the most important issue in their industry, that being the orchestrated suppression of the price of gold.

This morning a colleague said he was waiting for the ISM number to come out to give some direction for the day to the dollar and gold. I laughed, promptly saying it didn’t matter what the numbers were. All that counted was what The Gold Cartel was up to and how strong the physical market buying was to thwart their expected assault on the price to keep it away from closing above $410.

Yesterday was a giveaway the cabal is digging in. If the euro can soar 1.21 and gold is not allowed to even close more than $2 higher on the session, what could we expect for a mere mortal trading session like today ought to be?

Sure enough, the economic numbers all were modestly disappointing, as has been the case time and time again over the past number of weeks. With the PPT and Gold Cartel waiting in the wings to go into action, they proved to be meaningless, as predicted. Can’t have the stock market cratering and gold going up with the Republican rah-rah convention going on in New York.

The numbers:

10:00 July Construction spending reported 0.4% vs. consensus 0.4%
Prior reading revised to 0% from (0.3%).
* * * * *

10:01 August ISM Manufacturing reported 59 vs. consensus 60%
Prior reading was 62.
* * * * *

10:03 August ISM Prices Paid reported 81.5 vs. consensus 79
Prior reading was 77.
* * * * *

Manufacturing activity was less than expected and inflation higher than expected. True, the variances from expectations were no big deal. However, when you take into account so many of the numbers have been worse than anticipated, you would think they might register to some degree. After all, the effect of the tax cuts, low interest rates and major government stimulus of years past is BEHIND us. Why should anyone think the numbers will improve from here on in?

It didn’t take long for Houston’s Dan Norcini to put it all in perspective:

Hi Bill:
Ya gotta love this headline that came down the wire feed this morning:

DJ WSJ.COM: US Stocks Up; Economic Data Lower Than Expected

Anyone who can spin this one must be a distant cousin to Goebbels.
ISM came in weak and shows the exact same trend as the previous month especially in regards to the critical employment number - weaker employment figures than the previous month. To me this is the beginning of a trend and not a one time aberration or "soft patch" as "Speaks with Forked Tongue" Greenspan has declared.
It is going to be interesting to see what kind of numbers these guys pull out of the hat for the biggie jobs report.
Best,
Dan

As far as gold goes, the Gold Cartel script was followed to a tee by the crooks. The euro rose .17 to 121.86, while the dollar fell .04 to 88.92. Impact on the gold price? Zip, unless you believe a stronger euro is bearish for gold these days. That makes sense based on the recent price action. All kidding aside, you can be sure if the euro was hit hard today, gold would have been slaughtered.

Here’s more bearish news for gold. The CRB held support in the mid 260’s for months and has now broken out to the upside. Regard:

November CRB
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/RB/B4

CRB Weekly
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/RB/W

The spot CRB closed at 279.85, up 3.35.

All gold rallies were sat on by the cabal, led by Morgan Stanley, which was also the major seller in silver. However, silver bucked the gold trend all day long as small support emerged from Republic and JP Morgan Chase.

The gold open interest rose 1394 contracts to 269,575, while the silver open interest fell 1169 contracts to 95,230.

The Gold Cartel is huffing and puffing like mad trying to blow the gold house down. Meanwhile, the gold fundamentals are "10+++++." Odds are becoming increasingly favorable they are going to FAIL (much to their consternation). It seems to me gold and silver are biding their time and preparing for major advances from these levels!

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The John Brimelow Report

Impasse

Tuesday, September 1 2004

Indian ex-duty premiums: AM $6.40, PM $6.61, with world gold at $409.30 and $408.50. Well above legal import point.

TOCOM lacked inspiration. Volume fell 19% to the equivalent of 17,911 Comex lots. The active contract closed unchanged and world gold went out down 25c. Open interest rose the equivalent of 235 Comex lots. (NY yesterday traded 50,219 contracts; open interest rose 1,394 contracts.)

Gold seems to be at impasse. The Bears would love to knock it down, on the concept that the alleged Sons of Gwalia covering is finished. Clearly they are being frustrated by steady physical offtake. On the other hand, the ready seller of the past week or so has intimidated the Bulls.

JB

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The DOW only fell 5 to 10,169, while the DOG gained 12 to 1850.

After dropping more than $8 per barrel in less than two weeks, oil rebounded following some bullish inventory news:

10:31 DOE reports crude oil inventories (4.2M) barrels vs. consensus (400K) barrels
Gasoline inventories +900K barrels vs. consensus (1.05M) barrels, while distillate inventories +1.3M barrels vs. consensus +1M barrels. Oct. crude is trading higher to $42.80 in initial reaction.
* * * * *

10:32 API reports crude oil inventories (8.1M) barrels
Gasoline inventories +2.2M barrels, while distillate inventories +2.2M barrels. Oct. continues to rally; last quoted at $42.90/barrel.
* * * * *

Crude oil closed at $44, up $1.88 per barrel. Cheap oil? NOPE!

GATA’s Mike Bolser:

Hi Bill:

The Federal Reserve today added $4.25B in temps today September1rst 2004, an action that caused the repo pool to stay very high at $57.012B. There are two MAJOR events in today's brief commentary:

First, the Fed has an enormous expiration of $24.5Billion set for tomorrow that nicely coincides with the peak of the Republican Convention and my long expected launch date for a DOW recovery. The massive expiration means that the Fed will issue a similar amount of repos in the AM, leaving around $50B in intra-day repos added to the EXISTING repo pool of $57Billion Thus we may see an intra-day total of over $100Billion available for primary dealer actions. I will let you decide if this mountain of money is just a coincidence.

Second, Mexico has just announced an oil resource study that doubles its petroleum reserves to over that of Iran. Before you run out and buy a fourth SUV, the first on stream effects of this will be six years away.

I'm pasting the complete story for the following energy piece because its VERY important:

Large [Mexico] oil reserves found

BY NOÉ CRUZ SERRANO/EL UNIVERSAL
El Universal
Lunes 30 de agosto de 2004
Nuestro mundo, página 2
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/…imprimir?id_nota=6110&tab
la=miami

Three years of exploration has enabled Pemex to map oilfields that the state-owned oil monopoly believes will more than double the nation's known crude oil reserves.

Luis Ramírez Corzo, Pemex's director for exploration, told EL UNIVERSAL that on a "conservative" estimate, almost 54 billion barrels lie underneath the oilfields. That would take Mexico's reserves to 102 billion barrels, more than the United Arab Emirates (which has reserves of 97.8 billion barrels), Kuwait (94 billion) and Iran (89.7 billion), and almost as much as Iraq (112.5 billion).

The official also said the discovery could enable Pemex to increase Mexico's oil production from the current level of 4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 7 million bpd.

Saudi Arabia currently produces 7.5 million bpd, while Russia's oil output is 7.4 million bpd.

Ramírez Corzo said the exploration, at an investment of US4.6 billion, led to the identification of seven separate blocks rich in oil and natural gas. The most promising blocks are under water in the Gulf of Mexico, thought to contain around 45 billion barrels.

"That's the good news," Ramírez Corzo said. "The bad is that owing to the complexity of the technology needed to exploit the oilfields and the levels of investment required, (Pemex) can't go it alone."

He said Pemex will prepare special "alliance contracts" to attract the involvement of multi-national corporations with capital to invest and the most up-to-date deep sea oil extraction technology.

Similar "multiple service contracts," which Pemex has used to attract foreign capital to extract natural gas from the northern Burgos Basin, have met with legal challenges by opposition lawmakers. Under Mexico's Constitution, exploration and exploitation of the nation's energy resources is the exclusive preserve of the state.

The contracts would maintain Mexican ownership of the oil while allowing the multi-nationals a return on their investment to extract the resources from under the sea, Ramírez Corzo said.
© 2004 Copyright El Universal-El Universal Online

++++++++++++++++++++++

There will be a seismic event tomorrow based only on the presence of over $100 Billion in intra-day repo pool funds. I'm betting the event will launch the DOW.
Mike

From The King Report late last evening:

Anyone paying attention to the technical picture of stocks has to be extremely concerned that the major indices are faltering after approaching but not touching (let alone besting) downward-sloping 200-day moving averages. This pattern portends big trouble, but the current configuration is even more ominous because any significant decline that now materializes would be the fourth important decline in 2004. And the 200-day moving averages are now downward sloping or flat (DJIA). The three previous ’04 declines had positive sloping 200-day moving averages – the long-term trend then was positive. Exacerbating the decaying technicals is the seasonable horrendous period of September and October has arrived. PS – If we recall correctly, the presidential election year pattern has a summer rally before the classic autumn fall.

-END-

Gold demand news:

Globally investment in gold went up by 44 per cent during first half of 2004 in comparison to same period previous year, in India it has been about 35 per cent.

KOLKATA, DHNS:

Demand of yellow metal in India has been on the upswing and registered 20 per cent rise in the first half of the calendar year compared to the growth during same period last year even as gold remained firm in the Asian market, sources quoting World Gold Council said.

The Council, which analysed the consumption and demand pattern in India in the past six months, said in its report that quantity-wise, it has registered a ten per cent hike compared to the same period previous year. Internationally, spot gold traded at $403/404 per ounce after touching a peak of $404.75. Prices fell by nearly four dollar an ounce after dollar appreciated against other currencies. According to market analysts, gold prices may rule firm following crashes of two Russian passenger aircraft last week.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sep012004/b10.asp

-END-

More gold demand news from MENAFN - Middle East North Africa Financial Network

(And here it is...Arab nations buying gold. They bought $1.253 billion in gold (87.2 tons) between April and July of 2004.

If they continue this for the year 2004, it will amount to roughly $5 billion in gold purchases, which is approx 348 tons. I did the math, 348 tons is roughly twelve million, two hundred seventy five thousand (12,275,000+) ounces of gold annualized for the year 2004!!!)

"The director general of World Bullion Council for Middle East, Turkey and Pakistan attributed this growth to several factors, including the rise in the price of oil during the last two years as well as increase in both sales and consumption. There has been substantial increase in using gold as a means of investment.

It is noteworthy that many people resorted to amassing gold to avoid risks of losing their wealth due to several factors, including inflation. This also resulted in increasing the price of gold in the international market."

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=62187

-END-

Argentina is thumbing its nose at the IMF and its request:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3613512.stm

Protests at IMF Argentina talks
………"Mr Rato urged Argentina to set aside more cash for debt payments.

But Mr Kirchner told the IMF head that it was highly unlikely Argentina would be setting aside more money to pay towards its defaulted debt."……………

***

Gold producer high grading:

Bill,

Although it hasn’t been talked about a lot lately, in the past you told us about how gold companies have high-graded their deposits — a tactic that would later lead to lower mine output. Well, later is here. How much of the production shortfall at Sons of Gwalia is a result of past high-grading? Combine high-grading and hedging and how long will it be before another gold company goes belly up? This could turn out to be more than a one-off event, but rather the first in a series. In the meantime the Lalors, who created the Sons of Gwalia mess, abandoned ship before the rest of the crew knew there was a leak.

GATA know the truth!
Best wishes,
Peter R.

There is nothing wrong with investment firms trading on market developments, ones which they become privy to in their normal course of business. However, it is an outrage if they operate for their own accounts in one manner and deal with clients, whom they advise, in another. This is just what the Wall Street internet scandals were all about 4 years ago.

It is also an outrage if these same firms are manipulating a cash price one way (in violation of US anti-trust laws) and then maneuvering their stock portfolios at the same time in concerted fashion, knowing the gold price manipulation itself is affecting the trading decisions of the unsuspecting public (like we saw late Friday afternoon).

It is with great pleasure and disgust that I am able to present the following to you from a fellow Café member:

Hi Bill
Just for a bit of self-education, I thought I’d look up the recent Official Change in Substantial Holdings Notices from the Australian Stock Exchange. If you would like to look into this further, you can go directly to their listings at:

http://www.asx.com.au/asx/stat…ameSearchType=Y&year=2004

It’s a shame you (and John Embry) have got this manipulation thing all wrong. It is obviously merely coincidence that Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan etc sold their holdings in Sons Of Gwalia a mere few weeks before the receivers were called in. What could you guys have been thinking? J

I’ve attached a few, just to prove my point. But, I feel absolutely certain that these fine Financial Institutions hold all precious metal bugs and the sanctity of Gold and Silver in the highest esteem.
Cheers
Phillip

These links will save you time for those interested in pursuing this:

Wellington.pdf

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2004/Wellington.pdf

NAB.pdf

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2004/NAB.pdf

JPMorgan.pdf

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2004/JPMorgan.pdf

GoldmanSachs-JBWere.pdf

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com…4/GoldmanSachs-JBwere.pdf

GoldmanSachs.pdf

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2004/GoldmanSachs.pdf

Templeton.pdf

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/img2004/Templeton.pdf

This morning I learned the LBMA will not send a copy of the Bank of Russia speech (in Russian) given on June 4th at their convention in Moscow to a London metals reporter doing a story on GATA and the gold market. The speech was given by Deputy Chairman Oleg V. Mozhayskov. They refused to do so even though the presentation was handed out to all the attendees. Can’t ever recall anything happening like this before. We are not talking about state secrets here. Of course, The Gold Cartel, the BIS and IMF have done all they can to keep the gold truth from reaching the investment world. What did Jack Nicholson say in the movie, "A Few Good Men?" "You can’t handle the truth!" As we already know, this is what GATA is dealing with. We are doing all we can to get the gold truth out there and The Gold Cartel and allies in the establishment are doing all they can to suppress that truth. What other explanation can there by for not sending on a speech which was handed out?

The Gold Cartel and financial market establishment refuses to deal with the Sprott Special Report on gold. They won’t even comment on the superb effort of Sprott Asset Management. To have the Russian Central Bank agreeing with Sprott and saying GATA is correct has to be too much for the LBMA and their members to bear. These people are more than pitiful, which brings me to another one of their disingenuous, sad-sack cronies, Dennis Gartman, who produces the well-followed Gartman Letter.

Veteran Café members will remember the abuse Gartman threw our way 3 to 5 ½ years ago. Following is commentary from various MIDAS’ over that period of time. Oh yes, there is a very constructive purpose in covering these blasts from the past and bringing them to your attention.

From a very old MIDAS, including commentary from GATA supporter Harry Schultz about Gartman, followed by additional MIDAS commentary:

April 23, 1999

For more information about the Harry Schultz newsletter write: HSL, P O Box 622, CH - 1001, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Harry Shultz be for us. Gold Field Mineral Services and Gartman be against us. From today's Gartman letter

"Finally, we note that Gold Field Mineral Services Ltd., perhaps the most influential research group in the precious metals' industry, has openly condemned the proposed suit and investigation against the US government and the world's largest gold trading organizations that the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) is proceeding with as composes of "rather exaggerated ideas." We concur completely."

We are curious as to why Mr. Gartman says what he says. He never called to talk to us. It is news to us that GFMS condemned us.

But another gold institution did in a way. In Nevada's Elko Free Press- April 21 - quotes from Gold and Silver Institute President, John Lutley after saying he did not think we could prove our case: " I think they're nuts, and people who give them money will lose it…. It's easy to make accusations and I'm not surprised they got a law firm. They're suing people with deep pockets….

-END-

July 8, 1999

The strangest commentary came from the highly regarded Gartman Letter. This is what Mr. Gartman had to say today:

"Finally, Her Majesty's government in the UK responded to reports made by a Tory member of Parliament (Mr Quentin Davies) that the Bank of England's gold auction was done primarily to "save the bacon of firms that are running…short positions" in the gold derivatives markets. The Treasury's spokeswoman, Ms Patricia Hewitt, called such report "nonsense…and wild rumours." We've no doubt that several firms are indeed quite heavily short of gold, including Goldman Sachs (having inherited a short position from Long Term Capital Management) and Barrick (having accumulated a large short position over the past several years to hedge its gold production going forward); however, this is the UK we're talking about, and not the former governments in Nigeria, or Indonesia or Cameroon where corruption is rampant. We may be naïve, but we find it preposterous to believe that an MP would even broad the subject on the floor of the Parliament. We congratulate HM's government for putting the rumours to rest swiftly and succinctly.

An open letter to Mr. Gartman,

From Bill Murphy, Gold Anti Trust Action Committee Chairman

Dear Mr. Gartman,

You have told your readership that GFMS condemned our investigation into the manipulation of the gold market and that you agreed with their condemnation. Do you also condemn Newmont Mining, Homestake, Ashanti, Placer Dome, Gold Fields and Anglogold for "demanding" a similar investigation?

Part of our investigation is trying to determine if Long Term Capital Management was let out of a "borrowed gold position" in an off market "rigged" transaction. That could very well be a violation of anti-trust laws. And of all people, you say in your own commentary that such a transaction has occurred. What gives?

And finally, what did you expect Her Majesty's government to say from the get-go? Oh, yes the sale is part of some sort of collusive activity! Do you recall President Nixon, " I am not a crook" or President Clinton "wagging his finger" denying any Monica Lewinsky involvement? Did you believe them too? Remember the embarrassed grin on former Clinton Press Secretary, Mike Mc Crary?

You have a very good reputation, but you sure are missing the boat on this one.

If you care, it would be my pleasure to get you up to speed and explain to you a good bit of what we know is going on here and will start by sending you this Midas. You might also like to know that I spoke with a major gold producer today and they are in "battle station mode." That letter to Prime Minister Blair was not sent to the head of state of England with nothing to back it up. The CEO's that sent the letter are very conservative people and very proper. You can be sure that was just a warning salvo; ie, "do something about the mess you have created or face the consequences". Along that line, Prime Minister Blair cancelled a 3 day overseas trip today to "work on the Northern Ireland problem." As far as I know the Northern Ireland problem has been around awhile. Perhaps, Mr. Blair has another, new big problem to deal with.
All the best,
Bill Murphy

July 13, 1999 with gold at $255:

Received a phone call from Dennis Gartman, of the highly regarded Gartman Letter, yesterday. He wanted to know our side of the gold manipulation story as he told his subscribers he would hear out GATA's position and he did. Dennis could not have been more professional and courteous - a delight to talk to. Naturally, we still disagree but the air has been cleared. He did say the day gold comes in $10 higher and closes $15 higher, he is a big buyer. That would signify to him that the shorts had finally lost control of the market and had handed it over to the bulls.

(9/1/04 – He never did say what he said what he would do in his Letter to clarify the air! He lied!)

Flash forward, years later:

December 10, 2002 - Gold $323.40 down $2.10 - Silver $4.60 unchanged

CRB Closes In Multi-Year High Ground / Arrogant Nitwit Attacks GATA Again

Dennis Gartman, the well known newsletter writer, is an arrogant nitwit. He came out attacking GATA right after we received our first publicity years ago. What he stated at the time was false, so I called him on the phone to let him know why. He told me he would make amends in his next letter. He lied. He never did.

Now, he has come out attacking GATA once again with more drivel. It is extraordinary how many in the mainstream investment world assault GATA when they have no idea what they are talking about and have not even bothered to do their homework regarding our comprehensive evidence of the manipulation of the gold price. They seem to get their jollies from siding with the mainstream bullion bank to demonstrate how "cool" they are and how much they are on message discipline when it comes to outsiders.

His latest garbage:

Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Gartman

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The Gartman Letter

The Gold Bugs are at it again, hyping the gold market on reports of enormous, unsecured, un-hedged short positions in spot gold. GATA and Mr. Veneroso (who we shall admit do enormous amounts of investigation and gather rather copious amounts of data hoping to prove their long standing point that the central bank and Wall Street firms have rigged the gold market against them) are at it again with a new report suggesting that hedging operations undertaken by gold mining firms and/or lending operations undertaken by central banks have left them "short the physical gold that they must return later or repay... and therefore exposed to the risk of higher gold prices when they have to cover." This new report (sent to us over the weekend by several of our clients, so we know that it is sweeping through the gold trading market) suggests that the size of the short position the central banks are exposed to is now "at least 10,000 and possible as much as 16,000 tonnes, implying a short physical position of equal size." They had previously believed that the short position was 5,000, but apparently that was not sufficient to get the bull market they wanted going as swiftly as they had hoped, so they have hyped the short position by 2 or 3 times.

We have no doubt but that the short position in various derivatives, options, futures, forwards, et al dwarfs by a material multiple the amount of gold mined in any one year. We find that bit of information utterly worthless however, for so too is the short position in futures, options, forwards et al in the US grain markets a multiple of the size of the crop grown. The "Gold Bugs" state that the derivatives written are so complex between gold producer and central bank, or between gold producer and end user, that this is creating the growth in the overall size of the derivatives positions, and they use that as evidence of the need to take gold higher... but for the bearish "manipulation" of the central banks and Wall Street firms in their opinion. We shall argue that the complexity of the derivatives is precisely the reason why the derivatives positions have expanded even as hedging activity in the gold market has been reduced since the adoption of the Washington Accord. The derivatives written between producer and central bank two and three years ago, with precise language requiring precise deliveries, qualities and delivery points might be difficult... if not wholly impossible... to unwind easily. Wishing to cover the hedge, those on both sides may chose instead to find coverage via another derivative with another producer or another Wall Street firm... all of whom must then hedge the new exposures they have accepted. We see no reason to doubt that a single rather plain vanilla forward sale of gold done via an OTC derivative might not give rise to 6 or 8 or 10 times as many nominal derivatives by the time the position is fully hedged and one of the participants wants to remove the hedge but cannot do so with the initiating firm. This ramping up of derivatives positions does not mean that someone is caught offside on a trade or that a huge short positions is created, for there is an equal amount of long positions that also must be created.

The Gold Bugs argue that should gold futures move to a backwardation rather than their far more normal contango, then the problems they envision may develop rather quickly. We again shall not argue that that is possible.... albeit rather unlikely so. Gold futures have been in backwardation so infrequently (and indeed, when it has happened, it has happened only in the front and second futures contracts, and then only as deliveries become very concentrated and the participants highly sophisticated) and barring some war-like circumstance that disturbs the delivery mechanism materially, we have trouble perceiving a situation where the market can "go backwardated" for anything beyond a very few days. As we are wont to say, "A problem is not a problem until it is a problem." The GATA et al have been trying vainly to stir up a problem in gold for years; thus far with little success. We suspect this new attempt shall suffer the same fate as their last attempts [Ed. Note: While on the topic of GATA and deliverable supplies of gold, we note that COMEX warehouse stocks of gold have been rising, rather than falling, making GATA's case all the more difficult. From a low of approximately 800,000 troy ounces of gold in the warehouses mid-year last year, warehouse stocks are now very close to 2.0 million oz.]….

-END-

I will let Reg respond (should he decide to do so) to the specifics about much of the derivatives part. I do not even need to go there to prove him a buffoon. Here’s why:

*Gartman studied the report so diligently, he refers to it as a Veneroso/GATA report when the author was Reg Howe with Mike Bolser putting in a great deal of input.

*He states we previously said the gold short position was 5,000 tonnes and that was not good enough. He is right, it is not good enough because it is wrong. It was NEVER GATA’s number. It is the number of Gold Fields Mineral Services, the bullion dealer apologist firm. Our gold loan/swap number was never less than 10,000 tonnes from day one.

*To really demonstrate how clueless this guy is, one of his gold picks has been mega-hedger Barrick, the anti-gold company, which continues to stink up the place:

11:08AM Barrick's 2002 earns est. halved at CSFB (ABX) by Tomi Kilgore Analyst David Christensen at CS First Boston lowered his 2002 earnings forecast for Barrick Gold (ABX for the second time in three weeks, citing continued higher operating and non-cash costs at certain mines, a higher level of ongoing administrative costs and a stronger Australian dollar. He cut his forecast to 16 cents a share from 32 cents, after lowering it from 38 cents on Nov. 26. He maintained his "outperform" rating on the stock, given that its long-term growth expectations remain intact, but lowered his price target to $17.25 from $19. The stock is shedding 47 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $14.77.

(CBS Marketwatch http://www.bigcharts.com )

They can’t seem to do anything right these days. Same comment from me: why would any serious gold investor own this dog? A couple of years ago, Barrick Gold’s share price was around that of Newmont. Today, it closed $11.39 under Newmont. What kind of a premium do you think Newmont will go over Barrick (down 49 cents to $14.75) when gold takes out $330? What do you root for as a Barrick shareholder: for the price to go down (so that your massive hedges make money), or up (which eventually could blow up that same hedge book)? Good grief, what a lemon!

*Gartman says the rising warehouse stocks to 2 million ounces hurts GATA’s case. More inanity. The Comex warehouse stocks were 792,000 ounces on September 22, 2001. Gold made a low after Sep. 11 of around $273 per ounce in November of that year. Gold rose $54 per ounce while the warehouse stocks rose to over 2 million ounces. It is an irrelevant number. Furthermore:

He makes a big deal about this 2 million ounces of Comex stocks. But that is only 62 tonnes!?!? Now how is 62 tonnes going to make even a dent in a multi-thousand tonne short position? The Comex stocks are a red herring irrelevant to the real issue.

*Gartman says "...the short position in futures, options, forwards et al in the US grain markets [are] a multiple of the size of the crop grown." This is just plain wrong and to my mind demonstrates no understanding of the principle of hedging. For example, US corn production in 2001 was 9.5 billion bushels.

http://jan.mannlib.cornell.edu…/pcp-bb/2001/crop1201.txt

But corn open interest is 450,000 contracts (5,000 bu. per contract). Therefore, corn O.I. is only 24% of production. If you add in the delta-hedged value of the options as well as the forwards, the short position is probably not more than 50% of production. Moreover, even 50% of production is probably an overstatement because a lot of foreign firms use the US futures markets for hedging. If it were a "multiple of the size of the crop grown," the CFTC would be apoplectic because of the possibility of market manipulation and/or a short squeeze.

Gartman's statement saying that outstanding shorts are a multiple of crop size further demonstrates no understanding of hedging. Think about his statement a minute. Let's assume the short position was just twice production (and not a multiple thereof as he claims). In addition, the longs realized that the shorts were short more than production. How would the shorts deliver? The longs could force a monumental short squeeze.

*He misunderstands the whole point about backwardation. It occurs when the market is under severe stress. And in a crisis, it can happen for a long time. In a crisis, unprecedented events happen. For example, in the late 1970's US dollar crisis, who foresaw that Swiss franc interest rates would go negative? To say that gold cannot go into prolonged backwardation just because it hasn't happened so far is a weak line of reasoning that not only ignores from history that unexpected events do indeed happen, it also ignores any understanding about the undue stress now prevailing in the gold market.

I could go on, but what's the point? I am embarrassed for Gartman, who does have a decent following. His comments demonstrate so little understanding about markets. While it is fun to laugh at this sorry soul, it is great news to receive even more confirmation how Reg and Mike’s work is spreading all over the place. That is key. Contrary to Gartman’s pitiful disinformation commentary, a former chief gold dealer of a major bullion house called to tell me the Howe/Bolser report was absolutely brilliant. That is what is important, not this foolishness.

Oh yes, Dennis Gartman’s phone number and email address:

757 238 9346

E-mail: dennis@thegartmanletter.com

-END-

OK, so why go into all of this now. Simple answer! Dennis Gartman, of all people, has been invited to be a guest speaker at the latest LBMA Conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai next week. The LBMA and its members will not deal with the GATA camp in any way yet invite a guy to speak who is mostly clueless about gold. Naturally, this has to be the reason he was chosen.

Unbelievably, Gartman just learned about the Daughters of Gwalia mess, days after the company blew up. Yeah, this guy is really on top of the gold scene.

September 1, 2004 The Gartman Letter excerpts:

Finally, the strength in gold had one other major impetus in the past thirty six hours, which quite honestly we missed: a not-so-minor Australian gold mining company, the Sons of Gwalia, has gone into what we would call in the US "receivership" or "Chapter 11 bankruptcy," but which in Australia is called "administration" following its disclosure earlier this week that it had erred in its hedge account rather archly….

The decision has left Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Dresdner Bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the ANZ Bank and HSBC (all clients of ours) in a tenable, but clearly uncomfortable position. Further, it was only a short while ago that Franklin Resources, the large mutual fund, and Teck Cominco, the mining company, in difficult positions also, for both had taken large positions in "Son's" shares over time and again rather recently. We shall obviously learn more about this next week when we are in Shanghai to speak for the LBMA.

-END-

So Gartman’s clients just happen to include the players in The Gold Cartel (along with Barrick Gold). What can we say? This is what the neanderthal gold establishment world deserves! Wonder how Gartman will deal with The Daughters blow-up which GATA predicted years ago and how he will explain how the gold derivatives are not going down even though hedgers have substantially reduced their positions by some 1500 tonnes since his inane comments in December 2002. The LBMA deserves a speaker like Gartman. They have invited the blind to speak to those who want to keep everyone else blind! When the gold market blows up all these phonies will have a lot of answering to do.

A few staunch GATA supporters/Café members are wondering what GATA is up to regarding the Sprott Asset Management Special Report, "NOT FREE, NOT FAIR: The Long-Term Manipulation of the Gold Price."

First, we are waiting to hear from the financial market/gold press and the gold industry itself. Thus far the silence is deafening, which is par for the course and exactly what GATA expected. Although I understand ONE visible Canadian newspaper will be dealing with the report very shortly. ONE potentially reasoned story so far out of all the Canadian, US and European press who were supplied with the report. This will give you some idea what GATA has been up against for more than five years and is proof the mainstream financial market press is controlled. What other explanation can there be for this superb and unchallenged effort by Sprott not to be covered by most everyone?

Through a highly regarded contact, GATA tried to set up a meeting with a well known gold producer CEO. Result: after a week he still had not read the Sprott report, won’t meet with me and does not want to discuss the gold price manipulation issue. Even so, GATA intends to contact the major gold companies and we hope you will also in time. More on this to come.

Meanwhile, GATA has been working behind the scenes on several fronts, not the least of which is preparing for a GATA luncheon at the New Orleans Investment Conference on Sunday, November 14. Details on that out shortly. I will be giving a presentation in Toronto on October 4th at the Convention Center as part of Joe Martin’s conference, his first in that fine city. Then there have been some radio interviews, etc. It adds up time-wise. Chris Powell and I have full time jobs. All the GATA effort is additional work after what we need to do to make a living. To pull off a major effort with the press/gold producers in the weeks ahead, we are going to need your help.

The following email to a gold producer CEO says it all:

TO: XYZ, CEO
FROM: MARILYN A. G, SHAREHOLDER

Mr. XYZ, I have a great deal of respect for your acumen, so rather than address any other mining concern, I come to you with this important question: Why do mining companies sit back and let the gold cartel suppress the price of gold and never raise even the tiniest voice in complaint? One would think with all you have at stake, your voices would be the most vociferous. Are you afraid of government reprisals?

I just can't come to terms with that sort of cowardice, as you CEOs have to know what GATA knows, brought to light recently with the Sprott Report. And you just sit back and let it happen? Year after year after year?

Why?

In this regard, GATA would love to review some of the questions you are posing to gold companies and to the press. Please don’t just send them to us. We need you to act first and copy us. There is only so much time Chris Powell and I have to work on all of this - with no administrative staff to assist us.
Here is another thought. Please contract the precious metals analyst at the firm you might deal with and ask them if they have read the Sprott report and then ask for DETAILED responses. It is not good enough for them to render some half-ass opinion without back-up. Then I would suggest asking them how they are bringing this report to their client’s attention. Some firms which come to mind are Cannacord and Nesbitt Burns.

One of your fellow Cafe members put it this way:
Bill, I wonder what kind of responses (if any) to John Embry’s report, gold-share investors are getting from their stock-broker’s respective mining analyst research departments. After evaluating the comprehensive assessment of this cooked market, especially from such a highly respected money manager, you’d think the big firms would be falling over backwards to protect themselves by warning their clients of the newly identified risks associated with gold-share investing.

If no one has been advised, does this suggest complete disbelief, an addiction to mediocrity, or just fear of looking fringy? I wonder how fast such advisement will appear when the systems cracks really start to widen. Maybe investors should press their “investment advisors” for an analysis of these “postulated” risks associated with the gold sector, just to have them on record for future reference.
Buena Fe

Food for thought:

Hello Bill,
I thought maybe your readers may find this of some interest. I hold a sizable amount of Kinross Gold in my portfolio and recently increased my position on margin because I feel that an explosion in the gold market is imminent. This morning I received a call from my brokers TD Waterhouse that I have a margin call. I was shocked because I watch my investments very closely and try to avoid margin calls. I contacted the brokers and low and behold they readjusted the margin requirements on Kinross at yesterday's market close. If you look at Kinross' chart you will see that it is on the verge of exploding to the upside. I wondered why in the world would this brokergae house adjust margin requirements just at this point in time. I did some further investigation and found the following not to my great surprise.

The short positions outstanding on Kinross

New York Stock Exchange.....4.27 Million as of August 9th

Toronto Stock Exchange 12.47 Million as of Mid August.

Now if you check Kinross' daily volume it has not had many days over 1 million shares traded. It seems the Wall Street Brokers have many friends to help out in the Gold Wars. Just sickening! Maybe after today's market behavior the shorts on Kinross will be taken to the cleaners before I need to cover on the margin call. It certainly looks like something is cooking in GoldLand.

Another Big Law Suit on Wall Street and the SEC...you should check it out. Not much is being told to the average investor in America!

BANK ACTIVITIES REFORM COMMISSION GEARS UP FOR $5 TRILLION US GOVERNMENT SUIT
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/12/prweb92210.htm
Keep up the GREAT work Bill.
Saul M

The gold shares firmed up late in the day with the XAU rising .54 to 95.33 and the HUI picking up .26 to 207.65. Meanwhile, the sickening cabal took gold down $1.50 as soon as the Access market opened, even though oil soared and the euro closed higher. Their huffing and puffing seems to be never-ending. Clearly, they are going to have to be blown out of the water for gold and silver to go nuts and that JUST MIGHT HAPPEN!!!!!!

GATA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

MIDAS

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http://www.miningweekly.co.za/min/news/breaking/?show=56245

02 September 2004

Breaking News

Copper, silver prices buoy Anvil
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australian Stock Exchange-listed miner Anvil Mining on Tuesday released its annual results for the period ended June 30, 2004, reporting net earnings of $6-million compared to a loss of $0,8-million for the corresponding period last year.

Basic earnings a share increased to 31 cents compared to a loss of four cents a share last year.

In a statement released by the company, Anvil Mining said the results reflect the Dikulushi mine running for a full 12 months compared with only eight months for the previous year, following the commissioning of the mine in September 2002.

“The results also reflect an improvement in both copper and silver prices during the period,” Anvil said.

The realised copper price rose to $0,97 per pound from $0,70 per pound last year, and silver rose to $5,39 per ounce from $4,46 per ounce for the same period last year, which was a reflection of the London Metal Exchange copper price rising to a peak of $1,44 per pound during April 2004, and silver rising to a peak of $8,29 per ounce in the same period.

Anvil said its costs of operations were $16,7-million compared to 2003's figure of $8,5-million, reflecting the full twelve months of operations during 2004 compared with eight months of operations in 2003.

The company attributed the higher average monthly operating costs to increases in transport and labour costs. Transport costs per month have increased, as a result of higher volumes of concentrate being delivered to the smelters in Namibia and South Africa.

“However, the transports costs per ton have actually fallen, owing to lower rates achieved for deliveries to the Palabora smelter in South Africa. Higher labour costs are mainly a result of an increase of approximately one third in the number of employees at the mine site. This was due to increased activity related to minesite infrastructure development in advance of the stage two expansion,” Anvil reported.

The cash inflow from operating activities was $4,6-million or $0,23 per share, up from last year's figure of $0,6-million or $0,04 per share.

“The increase in operating cash inflow is attributable to a full year of production compared with only eight months for the 2003 financial year, as well as the increase in revenue arising from the higher copper and silver prices realised,” Anvil said in its statement.

Operating cash outflows also increased owing to the build-up of ore and concentrate stockpiles, additional inventory of spares and consumables, of $1,2-million, the company said.

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http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?t…id=5063206&action=article

Breaking news

2004-09-02 10:38 GMT:

Ridge Mining receives possible bid approach

LONDON (AFX) - Ridge Mining PLC said it notes the recent movement in its share price and announces that it has received an approach which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

slm/

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Police: Newmont manager is a suspect

By: Dorothy Kosich

Posted: '02-SEP-04 05:00' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2004

RENO (Mineweb.com) --Indonesia's National Police Wednesday named as a suspect the manager of waste disposal at PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in the law enforcement agency's investigation of the pollution of Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

WEITER.....

http://www.mineweb.net/section…ainable_mining/345023.htm

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http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/26.html?id_issue=10698769

Finance & Business

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 2 2004 10:26AM

Russia's gold, forex reserves at $88.8 bln on August 27

MOSCOW. September 2 (Interfax) - Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves were at $88.8 billion on August 27, up from $88.3 billion on August 20, the Central Bank said in a press release Thursday.

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http://www.busrep.co.za/index.…ionId=&fArticleId=2209387

Platinum mines may face wage strikes

September 2, 2004

Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum Holdings and Northam Platinum, which produce more than half of the world's platinum, might face strikes this month, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said yesterday.

Archie Palane, deputy general secretary of the NUM, said in a telephone interview the union was demanding a 15 percent increase for its members at Anglo Platinum and a minimum salary of R3 100 for underground workers and R3 000 for surface workers.

Ohne Kommentar!

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AFCAN MINING CORPORATION

AFCAN Mandates Macquarie Bank for Project Finance Facilities

9/2/04

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Sep 2, 2004 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX) --

Afcan is pleased to announce that it has mandated Macquarie Bank Limited of Australia to arrange the project finance facilities for funding the construction of the Tanjianshan Gold Project in China.

The project finance facilities include project debt and gold hedging facilities and are subject to the completion of the Tanjianshan Gold Project Bankable Feasible Study, due diligence and to the execution of the usual agreements for a transaction of this nature.

Afcan is also pleased to announce that its 13,500 metre drill programme at Tanjianshan will be completed by the first week in September. This will enable the geological model and resources to be updated resulting in the completion of the Bankable Feasibility Study by year end.

AFCAN is a China focused company and owns 85 % of the TJS Project at Tanjianshan in Qinghai Province, China. AFCAN also holds gold permits in Mali and Sierra Leone, the Mount Kakoulima nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum project in Guinea and the Kodjari phosphate project in Burkina Faso.

Message aux actionnaires francophones - Prenez note que la version francaise de ce communique de presse ne peut etre disponible sur notre site internet. Si vous desirez en obtenir une copie, veuillez nous faire parvenir vos coordonnees a l'adresse suivante : info@afcan-mining.com.

AFCAN Mining Corporation David G Netherway President-CEO (514) 744-2225 or AFCAN Mining Corporation Benoit La Salle Chairman (514) 744-2225 info@afcan-mining.com Website : http://www.afcan-mining.com

NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCNMatthews THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Copyright (C) 2004, CCNMatthews. All rights reserved.

© 2004 Stockgroup Media Inc. | Disclaimer

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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040901/nyw128_1.html

Press Release Source: Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation

Coeur Mails Proxy Materials to Coeur Shareholders in Connection With Proposed Acquisition of Wheaton River

Wednesday September 1, 5:02 pm ET

Special Meeting of Shareholders to be Held September 30, 2004 to Approve Issuance of Shares and Holding Company Reorganization Combination Will Create North America's Fourth Largest Precious Metals Company

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/

Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE: CDE - News) announced that it has commenced mailing of its definitive proxy materials to all Coeur shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 2, 2004 in connection with a special meeting of shareholders to be held at The Coeur d'Alene Resort and Conference Center, Second Street and Front Avenue, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho at 11:00 a.m., local time, on September 30, 2004.

At the special meeting, Coeur shareholders will be asked to vote on the following matters in connection with the company's offer to purchase all outstanding common shares of Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. (TSX: WRM - News; Amex: WHT - News):

* Proposal 1: A reorganization transaction to create a holding company
structure for Coeur and Wheaton River;

* Proposal 2: The issuance of shares of stock of the Coeur holding
company in the Wheaton River acquisition;

* Proposal 3: A proposal authorizing the adjournment or postponement of
the special meeting to solicit additional votes to approve Proposals 1
and 2; and

* Such other matters as may be properly brought before the special
meeting.

Coeur's Board of Directors has unanimously approved the holding company reorganization and the issuance of shares of Coeur holding company stock in connection with the proposed acquisition of Wheaton River and unanimously recommends that Coeur shareholders vote in favor of Proposals 1, 2 and 3.

Dennis E. Wheeler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coeur, stated, "At the special meeting, Coeur shareholders will have the opportunity to approve steps that are necessary to complete our acquisition of Wheaton River and thereby create one of North America's leading precious metals companies. By combining with Wheaton River, Coeur, already the world's leading primary silver producer, will also become a significant gold producer and the fourth largest precious metals company in North America. Wheaton River has an exciting portfolio of mines and projects that will fit well with our own. Together, we will have four growth projects that will significantly add to the company's gold and silver production in the near-term and provide a powerful platform for future growth."

Mr. Wheeler continued, "We expect this transaction to be immediately accretive to Coeur shareholders on the basis of net asset value, cash flow and earnings. We are fully committed to completing our acquisition so that all shareholders can begin to benefit from this compelling transaction."

Strategic Benefits

The combination of Coeur and Wheaton River will transform Coeur into North America's fourth largest precious metals company and a significant gold producer.

The combination will:

* Reinforce Coeur's status as the world's largest primary silver
company by immediately increasing Coeur's annual silver production by
50% to 22 million ounces, and to an estimated 35 million ounces by
2007;

* Transform Coeur into North America's fourth largest precious metals
company;

* Be one of the fastest growing precious metals companies with four
attractive development projects;

* Be immediately accretive to Coeur's net asset value, earnings and
cash flow per share;

* Be among the world's most liquid publicly-traded precious metals
mining companies with expected listings on both the NYSE and TSX; and

* Provide entry into Mexico, the world's leading silver producing
country.

For information about how to vote, shareholders can call the Company's proxy solicitor, MacKenzie Partners, Inc., by calling (800) 322-2885 (toll-free) or (212) 929-5500 (collect).

Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation is the world's largest primary silver producer, as well as a significant, low-cost producer of gold. The Company has mining interests in Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Cautionary Statement

This document contains numerous forward-looking statements relating to the Company's silver and gold mining business. Such forward-looking statements include the statements above as to the impact of the proposed acquisition on both the combined entity and the Company's shareholders. Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside the Company's control. These include negotiation and completion of a formal transaction agreement, governmental regulatory processes, the Company's ability to successfully integrate the operations of Wheaton River, assumptions with respect to future revenues, expected mining program performance and cash flows and the outcome of contingencies. Operating, exploration and financial data, and other statements in this document are based on information the company believes reasonable, but involve significant uncertainties as to future gold and silver prices, costs, ore grades, estimation of gold and silver reserves, mining and processing conditions, the completion and/or updating of mining feasibility studies, changes that could result from the Company's future acquisition of new mining properties or businesses, the risks and hazards inherent in the mining business (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, weather or geologically related conditions), regulatory and permitting matters, risks inherent in the ownership and operation of, or investment in, mining properties or businesses in foreign countries, as well as other uncertainties and risk factors set out in the Company's filings from time to time with the SEC, including, without limitation, the Company's reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as amended. Actual results and timetables could vary significantly from the estimates presented. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This communication is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Wheaton River or Coeur. Coeur's offer to purchase is being made to Wheaton River shareholders only pursuant to tender offer material as required by applicable law. This communication also is not a solicitation of proxies from any securities holder of Coeur or Wheaton River. Coeur has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a Registration Statement on Form S-4 and a Schedule TO and has filed the offer materials mailed to shareholders of Wheaton River in Canada with Canadian securities regulators. Coeur also has filed a registration statement on Form S-4 which contains a combined proxy statement/prospectus relating to the special meeting of Coeur shareholders described in this press release. YOU ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, THE SCHEDULE TO, THE OFFER AND CIRCULAR MAILED TO CANADIAN SHAREHOLDERS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING PROXY MATERIALS, FILED WITH THE SEC AND CANADIAN SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITIES, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. You can obtain such materials, and any amendments and supplements thereto without charge at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov (for materials filed with the SEC) and on SEDAR, http://www.sedar.com (for materials filed with Canadian securities regulators). In addition, you may obtain offer materials and any related proxy materials and the other documents filed by Coeur with the SEC and the Canadian securities regulators by requesting them in writing from, 400 Coeur d'Alene Mines Building, 505 Front Avenue, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814, Attn: Investor Relations, tel: (208) 667-3511.

Contacts:
James A. Sabala
Chief Financial Officer
208-769-8152

Mitchell J. Krebs
Vice President Of Corporate Development
773-255-9808

Tony Ebersole
Investor Relations
800-523-1535

Judith Wilkinson / Matthew Sherman
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

Dan Burch / Steve Balet
MacKenzie Partners, Inc.
212-929-5500

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation

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Mergers & Acquisitions

Gold sector mulls mergers as Goldcorp CEO quits

Thu Sep 2, 2004 02:59 PM ET

(Amounts in U.S. dollars unless noted)

By Nicole Mordant

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The sudden resignation of Goldcorp Inc.'s (G.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) chief executive opens the door to acquisition activity in North America's gold sector, analysts agreed on Thursday, but they were divided on whether the mid-sized miner would be the predator or the prey.

Some skirted the question and spoke more loosely of a merger, tipping Canada's Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AGE.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Placer Dome Inc. (PDG.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , as well as U.S.-based Glamis Gold Ltd. (GLG.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , as the likeliest partners.

In any event, analysts did not expect any acquisition action for some months while a new Goldcorp CEO was being sought. And if someone wanted to buy the Toronto-based producer, they were likely to wait for the highly rated stock to get cheaper.

Zitat

"Rob McEwen stepping aside does make Goldcorp more amenable to corporate action," said George Topping of Sprott Securities in a note to clients.

McEwen, who led Goldcorp for 18 years, virtually building it from scratch into a low-cost, cash-producing firm, announced on Wednesday that he would step down as soon as his board found a successor.

Although conscious of the need to expand Goldcorp's production and potentially risky dependence on a single mine, McEwen was less acquisition-friendly than certain market analysts and some of his own executives believed was needed.

Tony Lesiak of UBS Securities and Onno Rutten of Scotia Capital tipped Agnico-Eagle, another low-cost, intermediate gold producer, as a potentially good purchase for Goldcorp if it could use Agnico's carried tax loss to help reduce a heavy tax bill.

Placer Dome, the world's fifth biggest gold producer, has long been regarded as a possible partner for Goldcorp because of the synergies that might be extracted if its Campbell mine and Goldcorp's next-door Red Lake site were mined as one.

A takeover by Placer Dome would be an ironic twist on Goldcorp's attempt two years ago to try to buy the gold major.

Lesiak and Desjardins Securities' Michael Fowler put store in a possible Goldcorp union with Glamis, a mid-sized producer headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

Zitat

"We believe a combination with Goldcorp to create a larger, more liquid, premium gold company would be well received by the market and would help crystallize some of Glamis's current valuation premium," Lesiak said.

UBS analysis has Glamis as the most expensive gold company in North America, making its stock an attractive acquisition currency.

Goldcorp's stock was down 29 Canadian cents at C$16.28 in Toronto and 20 cents weaker at $12.50 in New York on Thursday afternoon, not much softer than other gold stocks.

($1=$1.30 Canadian)

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http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/n…&alias=/alias/money/cm/nw

Peru's July Gold Output 13,226 Kgs; Down 15.0% Vs Year Ago

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Thursday September 2, 2:24 PM EDT

LIMA -(Dow Jones)- Peru's output of gold, zinc and iron declined in July, while copper and silver production increased in the month, the Energy and Mines Ministry said Thursday.

Gold output totaled 13,226 kilograms in July, down 15.0% compared with the same month a year before.

The ministry said the decline was tied mainly to weaker production at Minera Yanacocha, due to a reduction in treated mineral, and at Barrick Gold Corp.'s ( ABX) Pierina mine, due to lower grade ore.

Copper production, however, rose 23.2% to 79,662 tons in July from the same month a year before.

That increase was due to an increase of production at Compania Minera Antamina and the restarting of production at BHP Billiton's (BHP) Tintaya operation, it said.

Zinc production was 104,631 tons in July, down 11.7% from the same month a year earlier.

The ministry said that this was mainly due to a reduction in production at Antamina.

Silver production in July was 250,616 kgs, an increase of 7.4% from the same period a year before as a number of mines increased output.

Among some of the other minerals, the government said that lead production was 24,759 tons in July, an increase of 5.9% from the same month in the previous year.

Iron production was 171,740 tons in July, down 46.4% from the same month a year before, as one large iron miner was hit by a strike, the government added.

Tin output was 3,520 tons in July, up 5.2% from the same month in the previous year.

-Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; 511-221-7050; peru@dowjones.com

Dow Jones Newswires
09-02-04 1424ET

© 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Randgold Resources Eyes Operating Mali's Morila Gold Mine

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Thursday September 2, 12:07 PM EDT

JOHANNESBURG (Dow Jones)--Randgold Resources Ltd. (GOLD) wants to take over running day-to-day operations at the Morila gold mine in Mali if joint venture partner AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) does not meet a 350,000 tons-a-month ore throughput target by the end of September.

Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg Thursday, Randgold Resources Chief Executive Mark Bristow said he will meet next week with Bobby Godsell, his AngloGold Ashanti counterpart, to review operations at the mine.

"He asked (on July for three months to get throughput up to a sustainable 350,000 tons a month at an average recovery rate of 90%, but we would be very happy to take over if AngloGold Ashanti doesn't want to run the mine," said Bristow.

Reacting to Bristow's comments, AngloGold Ashanti spokesman Steve Lenahan said plans agreed upon by it and Randgold Resources are in place to ensure the mine's performance returns to planned levels.

"AngloGold Ashanti does not believe that Morila's difficulties are insurmountable and has no intention of resigning its operatorship of the mine," Lenahan said.

Operational problems started at Morila late last year with grades and monthly ore throughput falling. By January, monthly throughput had fallen to around 250, 000 tons of ore per month.

A plan to increase throughput has taken longer than expected to take effect, resulting in gold production sliding to 192,196 ounces in the six months to June from 474,870 ounces a year earlier. Output was just 85,081 ounces in the three months to June.

Zitat

"We would like to think we can convince AngloGold Ashanti that we should run the mine," said Bristow.

While AngloGold Ashanti and Randgold Resources each own 40% of Morila, the government of Mali controls the remaining 20% and would have to agree to a change in operator.

Meanwhile, Bristow is optimistic that Morila, the company's only producing gold asset, will be able to increase production in the second half of the year to achieve calendar 2004 output of around 500,000 ounces.

Morila's output is expected to rise to 630,000 ounces a year in 2005 as the expansion plan takes effect. Production at Morila is expected to continue until around 2009 when existing ore reserves will be depleted.

In line with a weaker gold sector, AngloGold Ashanti shares Thursday ended at 231.10 rand ($1=ZAR6.5591), down 1.1% from Wednesday's close.

-By Angus Macmillan, Dow Jones Newswires; 27 11 7837848, angus.macmillan@ dowjones.com

Dow Jones Newswires
09-02-04 1207ET

© 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Wer noch keine ECU Silber Minen Aktien im Depot hat, sollte es vielleicht in Erwägung ziehen!

Gruss

ThaiGuru

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NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCNMatthews

ECU SILVER MINING INC.

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TSX SYMBOL: ECU

SEPTEMBER 2, 2004 - 15:52 ET

ECU Silver Mining, Inc.-News Release

ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC--(CCNMatthews - Sept. 2, 2004) -

ECU Silver announces today the closing of a private placement resulting in gross proceeds of $7,000,000 received in four (4) installments by ECU Silver.

Pursuant to this private placement, ECU Silver issued an
aggregate of 24,137,931 units at a price of $0.29 per unit, each
unit being comprised of one (1) common share in the share capital
of ECU Silver and one third (1/3) of a common share purchase
warrant, with each whole common share purchase warrant entitling
its holder to acquire one common share at a price of $0.35 at any
time on or before August 17, 2006 for the subscribers of the
first closing, on or before August 20, 2006 for the subscribers
of the second closing, on or before August 26, 2006 for the
subscribers of the third closing and on or before August 31, 2006
for the subscribers of the fourth closing. The units are subject
to a four (4) months hold period, during which no transactions
are permitted. Such hold period will end on December 17, 2004 for
the units issued on August 17, 2004, on December 20, 2004 for the
units issued on August 20, 2004, on December 26 for the units
issued on August 26, 2004 and on December 31, 2004 for the units
issued on August 31, 2004.

The net proceeds of the private placement have been applied to
ECU Silver's working capital. This has allowed ECU Silver to
purchase for the sum of $6,670,000 a 30% net profit royalty and a
2% net smelter royalty granted by ECU Silver's wholly-owned
subsidiary BLM Minera Mexicana S.A. de C.V. at the time of the
initial purchase of the Velardena property from William Resources
in 1997. The balance of the proceeds will be utilized for general
corporate and administrative purposes as well as for minor
modifications to its milling facility.

ECU Silver also wishes to announce that it has sent a portion of its August production of concentrate for smelting. From now on, ECU Silver expects shipments of concentrate to be sent out on a weekly basis. The first meaningful revenues from such
concentrates are expected in two to three weeks time. Production
at ECU Silver's milling facility in Velardena has been averaging
200 tonnes per day since production resumed in early August and
ECU Silver is in the process of increasing this production output
to approximately 250 tonnes per day by the end of the month of
September.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
ECU Silver Mining inc.
Richard Hamelin
Executive Vice-President
011-52-871-717-8633 or (cell) 011-52-871-727-1848
011-52-871-718-5025 (FAX)
ecu@ecu.qc.ca
http://www.ecu.ca