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

To: goldsheet who wrote (85927)	5/27/2002 11:41:15 AM
From: marek_wojna	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116832

Here is some update for you, Bob. <<ODJ Australian 1Q Gold Output Fell To 65.7 MT - Analyst CANBERRA, May 27 (Dow Jones) - Gold production in Australia in the 2002 first quarter fell to 65.7 metric tons, the lowest quarterly output since the 1995 third quarter, industry analyst Surbiton Associates Pty. Ltd. said Sunday. Output last quarter was 4.5% down from production in the 2001 fourth quarter and 9% down from the 2001 first quarter, it said. Australia is the third largest producer nation for gold, after South Africa and the U.S. Sandra Close, Surbiton's managing director, said quarterly gold production has fallen about 10% from a peak in 1997. "The continued drop in production is no surprise; it's the direct outcome of lower exploration expenditure," she said in a statement. As a result, extra production from new discoveries and developments isn't keeping pace with mine closures, she added. Some of Australia's larger, long-term mines have come to the end of their lives, with the Kidston and Mount Leyshon mines in Queensland state having closed, and Boddington and Mount Charlotte mines in Western Australia state in their final stages, she said. Fewer significant closures are anticipated in the near term, she said. The fall in Australian gold production comes at a time of renewed interest in the precious metal because of relatively high U.S. dollar and Australian dollar prices, Close said. The Australian dollar gold price averaged A$560 an ounce in the first quarter, the highest quarterly average since 1987, and even with a stronger Australian dollar lately, the price in local terms still is around A$570/oz, she said. "The higher prices have renewed interest in gold both in Australia and overseas," she said, adding that how long this will be sustained is uncertain. "Let's hope higher gold prices lead to more exploration," she said. "Even the locals are interested now, with several successful new floats and capital raisings recently." Close also said takeovers in the Australian gold industry in the past year have changed ownership considerably, with around 60% of gold production now controlled from overseas. Investors wanting a direct shareholding in the Australian gold sector have fewer local producers and explorers from which to choose, she said. Surbiton issued its statement before news emerged early Monday of a hostile A$2 billion bid by Canada's Placer Dome Inc. for AurionGold Ltd., for now Australia's largest locally owned gold company. Other major gold miners are Newcrest Mining Ltd. and Sons of Gwalia Ltd. --- Ray Brindal, Dow Jones Newswires, 612 6208 0902 ray.brindal@dowjones.com FSN50795 MC METALS 2002-05-27 01:49:02 UTC

To: goldsheet who wrote (85927)	5/27/2002 12:31:13 PM
From: IngotWeTrust	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116832

Hi, Bob. This is what kills me about the type of P/R "spin" about gold production Press Releases, represented by this opening salvo from a TODAY P/R posted earlier on this thread. CANBERRA, May 27 (Dow Jones) - Gold production in Australia in the 2002 first quarter fell to 65.7 metric tons, the lowest quarterly output since the 1995 third quarter, industry analyst Surbiton Associates Pty. Ltd. said Sunday. Okay...here's the math: 65.7 metric tons per qtr x 4 qtrs=262.8 extrapolate annual metric tons production. Help me out here, Bob/anyone: Wasn't it 220ish metric tons of gold Australia govt surplus dumped back a few years ago because they front ran the BoE auction announcement basically. And the Aust gov't basically announced one of the reasons they did so, was because they basically mined 160-180 metric tons every year, so there basically wasn't any reason to "store it" on a gov't level. If my memory is correct, what slays me about the P/R spin put out above is this: It is designed to make a statement about a REDUCTION in production. Oh, gee, let's all get together and moan on the count of three...1....2....3: ????? (What? Thundering silence from the gold analysts????) Truthfully, such spun press releases as quoted above fail to take into account any facts in hand from analysts who have a memory longer than a whore's hangnail, or access to historical production databases by country. Such "reduction" pronouncements are never based on historical production truths from an accumulation of the "growing years." Yuck.