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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (41682)	9/30/1999 2:14:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

S. AFRICA'S PLACER DOME, WESTERN AREAS TO FIRE 2.895 WORKERS (The following is a reformatted version of a press release issued by PLACER DOME WESTERN AREAS JOINT VENTURE) Johannesburg, Sept. 30 --- The Placer Dome Western Areas Joint Venture (JV) intends proceeding with its planned retrenchment of the balance of the 2 895 effected employees on Friday, October 1, 1999. The JV has already approved approximately 430 of the 722 applications for voluntary retrenchment/ early retirement and these employees are in the process of leaving the JV. This decision follows a further period of consultation with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), as required under a court order issued by the Labor Court on September 21, 1999. Despite every reasonable effort on the part of the JV over the past ten days go engage in consultations with the NUM, the two parties failed to reach consensus on avoidance measures. Consequently, the JV is proceeding with the retrenchments in accordance with Section 189 of the Labor Relations Act, the Labor Court's final order and universally accepted industrial relations practices. When, on August 6, 1999, the JV first announced it was considering retrenching these employees, it was stated that this action was designed to reduce the substantial losses suffered by JV during the June quarter. Factors contributing to the JV's poor performance included the loss of FULCO (full calendar operations), continued poor productivity performance and the sharp decline in the gold price. The subsequent rise in the gold price over the past few days, alone, is insufficient reason for the JV to reconsider these retrenchments. While the increase in the gold price is welcomed and certainly contributes to the job security of the remaining 5 000 employees, it has yet to prove to be sustainable. If this is or any other factor reveals that it can contribute to higher economic production at the JV, retrenched employees will be recalled in terms of the established recall provisions which exist. The JV has put in place an innovative social plan which is designed to ameliorate the effects of these retrenchments. The goal of this project, which is being finance and managed by the JV, is to have at least 70 percent of the retrenched employees economically active within 24 months following their retrenchment. The JV hopes to work together with South African government, NGO's and their labor movement to guide the implementation of this plan. We are committed to ensuring the success of our current and past employees. At the conclusion of this restructuring process that management of the JV is confidential of reaching its $200/ounce cash cost target by year-end without sacrificing production. This will ensure that adequate funding is available for the continued development of the massive South Deep gold mine. For further information please contact: Patric Evans Mobile: +27 83 652 3646 -0- (CRL) Sep/30/1999 16:47 9/30/19 NYSE/AMEX delayed 20 min. NASDAQ delayed 15 min. Access More Information and Services Above ¸1999 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Trademarks.

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (41682)	9/30/1999 7:48:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116764

Bears gather as Wall St suffers inflation jitters By Alan Deans, New York Wall Street may officially be in a correction pattern, having fallen more than 10 per cent from its recent peaks, but to many investors it feels like a full-blown bear market. And it is not those folks who bought high-flying technology stocks who are suffering. Big losses are being felt by many of the market's largest and oldest names, groups that have very little to do with the digital age. Avon Products is down 56 per cent from the high it posted earlier this year, while Gillette has seen 48 per cent shaved from its worth. The Coca-Cola Co is off 35 per cent and Colgate-Palmolive 22 per cent. The financial sector has been hit, too, including majors Aetna and Citigroup, while Kmart and Monsanto are finding it hard to woo buyers. Call it inflation jitters. No-one wants to hold consumer products or financial services companies at a time when interest rates are rising and when prices are likely to rise even when many of those same companies are expected to gain significantly from rebounds in battered foreign markets and from the weaker greenback. It is sobering, also, to know that while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 10.6 per cent off its August highs at 10,213.5 on Wednesday, other parts of the market are escaping much of the pain. The much-slighted technology sector is one area weathering the storm. The Nasdaq Composite, top heavy with the likes of Microsoft, MCI WorldCom, Cisco Systems and Intel, is down only 5.8 per cent. What of the internet cowboys? They are up what else? Internet indices have been on a tear since early August and they are now only around 10 per cent below their peaks. Wednesday's trading saw frenetic buying in Amazon.com, which announced a new online shopping mall concept, and Excite@Home, which is said to be negotiating with America Online to provide fast internet access. The fever is also being felt among new internet public offerings, with equipment suppliers like Foundry Networks and Alteon WebSystems particularly aggressively sought. There is a theory going around that just as gold speculators have had to liquidate their bond holdings in recent days to cover their short positions, so, too, they could be baling out of some of their more liquid equity holdings. If so, we will soon know when Wall Street stages a premature recovery. US government bonds fell for the third day running after a report showed an unexpected rise in manufacturing orders in August. "We've got an economy hitting on all cylinders," said Mr Steven Bohlin, who manages $US1.9 billion ($2.9 billion) at Thornburg Management in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is buying money market debt so he can reinvest quickly if yields climb. afr.com.au