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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOUTHERNERA (t.SUF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gemsearcher who wrote (4975)	11/13/1999 12:38:00 PM
From: Valuepro	Respond to of 7235

From The Mail & Guardian: mg.co.za DIAMOND giant De Beers on Friday said it is hopeful that its South African diamond exports will resume in the near future. "The government diamond valuator has verbally given us the go ahead to package the diamonds...We are busy preparing the diamonds," De Beers spokesman Tom Tweedy said. De Beers' ninth export consignment of the year -- series 97 -- has been held up for three weeks, prompting a dispute between the firm and the government diamond valuator (GDV). The prospect of a delay to series 97 and the next final export consignment of the year had led analysts to express concern over the impact on De Beers' earnings. Once the Diamond Board has signed off on the series 97 package, they will be allowed to be flown to De Beers' marketing arm the Central Selling Organisation (CSO) in London. The CSO controls 70% of the trade in rough diamonds. Earlier in the day investment bank BoE Securities said it has downgraded De Beers to 'hold' from 'buy' because of a renewed dispute with the GDV and a weaker CSO sales outlook for 2000. "This time we believe the GDV demands on De Beers to be totally unreasonable. The industry urgently needs a commission of inquiry," BoE said in an industry review report. BoE forecast CSO sales to dip to $4,5-billion in 2000 and $4,6-billion in 2001 from $5,2-billion this year. -- Reuters

To: gemsearcher who wrote (4975)	11/13/1999 12:51:00 PM
From: Valuepro	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7235

More from Mail & Guardina: Angola Diamond Sales Threatened? mg.co.za RONWEN ROBERTS, Johannesburg \| Friday 11.00am. THE world's leading diamond producer, De Beers, could suspend its buying operations in west and central Africa to "take diamonds out of conflicts" there, it said on Thursday. De Beers's chairman Nicky Oppenheimer told some 500 delegates at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Johannesburg that his company does not want the profit from diamonds sales to be used to fund wars. The three-day forum, attended by business and government leaders from the 54-nation Commonwealth, ended Thursday, the day before the Commonwealth summit was to open in the east coast city of Durban. Oppenheimer said De Beers is part of global efforts to "break the link between the guns and the gold which warlords receive from their exploitation of mineral wealth." The company has adhered to the diamond sanctions announced in June last year against Angola's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels, he said. "We are considering suspending our buying operations in west and central Africa," Oppenheimer said, without specifying which countries could be affected by the move. At the same time MD of the government diamond valuator, Claude Nobels, rejected reports that he has halted diamond exports until a set of demands is met by De Beers. He has also denied he asked De Beers for additional payements before exports will be allowed to continue, the Business Day reports. DVIC Valuations said a series 97 which has yet to be exported, has in fact been approved for export but that De Beers had chosen not to export.

To: gemsearcher who wrote (4975)	11/14/1999 12:00:00 PM
From: crudestope	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7235

Shorters. Dear Gemsearcher, I forgot to mention in a previous memo to you that brokers are in a very privileged position re their clients' share positions and may well use that knowledge to take positions, particularly short ones, which may effectively be detrimental to the interest of their clients. It is noteworthy that one of the suggestions put forward re the re-organisation of Canadian stock exchanges was to copy the Australian stock exchange model. It did not receive a favourable response. I should also like to mention the very high Canadian broker commission rates which must the highest in the world. Even more astonishing is their minimum rate per trade, irrespective of the amount of money involved. Just compare. My/our Australian full service broker charges between 0.5% and 1.5% commission on the total amount involved. The other day I bid for $10 000 worth of shares in a relatively illiquid junior mining stock. It took him seventeen days and eight trades to get them. The commission rate was 1.25%, thus $125. And a recent $80 000 sale, fourteen trades, cost us $400, 0.5%. I know of Canadian brokers who charge up to $125 per trade! Needless to say that internet brokers are not having a field day in Australia. Crudestope.

To: gemsearcher who wrote (4975)	11/19/1999 9:57:00 AM
From: crudestope	Respond to of 7235

Dear Gemsearcher, The following is from Charles Wyatt's minesite, minesite.com Have a great week-end. Crudestope. SUPPLY DEFICITS IN PLATINUM AND GOLD, BUT WHO DARES FORECAST PRICES? There is good news for both the gold and the platinum markets. Perhaps platinum should take precedence as it is a genuine supply/demand market, whereas gold is smudged by hedging and by the simple fact that producers have so little confidence in the impact of basic demand on price that they rush to sell production forward. It is the Russians who have put a minor rocket behind the price of platinum by making a bureaucratic blunder of epic proportions. Clause 19 in the Budget and Tax Law passed last December restricted exports of platinum group metals to "state organs" only. The state export agency, the ministry of finance and the central bank are the usual exporters, but none fit this description, nor does Norilsk, the major mining company. As a result Johnson Matthey is now forecasting a 38 per cent fall in Russian shipments. On the plus side, Anglo American Platinum is increasing output from its upgraded concentrator capacity at its PP Rust complex and open-pit recovery from its new Bafokeng Rasimone platinum mine; Lonmin is also expanding production through Lebowa and Amandebult; and the new Kroondal mine owned by AIM listed Aquarius Platinum is also commencing production. Adding all this up, however, making due allowance for a reduction in supply from the Stillwater mine in North America and the Hartley mine in Zimbabwe, and Johnson Matthey is confident of a net deficit and is predicting a price range of US$370 to US$440 per ounce compared with its May forecast range of US$350 to US$390. It is not so easy for the gold bugs to make forecasts on the gold price. Many have tried, but few have ever got it right. And as long as producers such as Barrick continue major hedging programmes this will continue. Pressure is being exerted by analysts, however, who say they want to be able to get a clear view on gold sale prices unbesmirched by forward sales or exotic derivative trading. And many find Barrick?s statement that it will always be able to outperform the spot price of gold hard to take. "Always" is an unwise claim in investment. Remember Lloyds members who were "always" going to get a good return on their money. Even so, the background for gold is encouraging. The latest figures from the World Gold Council show that demand from the countries which it monitors was 877 tonnes in the third quarter ? an all time high for any three month period and 8 per cent above the previous peak. Demand for the first nine months of the year is therefore 2,472 tonnes which is way above the same period in 1998 when the financial crisis in the Far East was having an inevitable effect. Asia is now recovering fast and the Chancellor would be well advised to keep an eye on the importance placed on gold out there. Twice he has sold part of our gold reserves at a poor price and his spin doctors have rescued him. A third time may be too much and he might even be criticised in the Financial Times. 18 Nov 1999