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

To: goldsnow who wrote (6802)	1/27/1998 8:00:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116762

FOCUS-Costs, not bullion rule S.Africa gold firms 12:19 p.m. Jan 26, 1998 Eastern By Nicole Mordant JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Bullion's spike above the psychological $300 an ounce level on Monday catapulted South African gold shares to three month highs, but analysts said the metal price alone could not heal the embattled industry. Reducing costs through a planned wave of restructurings and retrenchments was still the top priority for mines as many remained on the critical list despite the gold price's welcome surge to a two-month peak. ''There is no doubt that there is continued pressure on the industry and that the focus is on productivity improvements feeding through into lower costs. That is the name of the game,'' said Roger Baxter, chief economist at the Chamber of Mines. Gengold, the gold company in the Gencor Ltd stable, said earlier it would continue to emphasise cost cuts regardless of bullion's $13 rally on Monday to fix at $304.50 -- its highest level since November 24, 1997. ''I'm trying to delete the words 'gold price' from the vocabulary of my mine managers,'' Gengold managing director Tom Dale said at the firm's December quarter results presentation. Analysts said miners had realised they could not pin their hopes to a recovery in the bullion price as the metals market, continually plagued by news of central bank gold sales, remained treacherously volatile. ''Definitely this (rise) will help, but the question is how much longer will it last,'' said Mark Madeyski, a gold analyst at G O'Flaherty & Co. By 1400 GMT bullion had already backtracked to below $302 an ounce. Leon Esterhuizen, an analyst at UBS Securities, said that at a gold price of $300 an ounce -- using an exchange rate of five rand to the dollar -- about 30 percent of the industry was still in trouble on a total cost basis. His estimates were based on costs reported in the September quarter as many December period results are still to be reported. Gold shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, however basked in bullion's glory, helping the all gold index add over 10 percent. Marginal mines -- high cost producers sensitive to movements in bullion -- especially took heart. Randgold & Exploration Co Ltd, a specialist at working marginal mining assets, leapt 25 percent as gold rose in response to a dollar weakened by sex allegations rocking President Clinton's White House. Several of South Africa's biggest mining houses have recently unveiled massive revamps to defend themselves against the gold price's $80-plus slide in 1997, warning of massive job retrenchments as bullion plumbed 19-year lows. Gengold and Gold Fields of South Africa Ltd announced in October that they would pool their gold assets into a single firm, Gold Fields Ltd, which is to list in February. The following month Anglo American Corp of South Africa Ltd said it would merge its gold operations into a single independently managed firm, Anglogold, which will be the world's biggest producer. ''The industry really doesn't have a choice, they have to realign their operations, they have to restructure. The worst thing that could happen now is for them to stop that restructuring drive,'' Esterhuizen said. newsroom+reuters.co.za)) ^REUTERS@ Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

To: goldsnow who wrote (6802)	1/29/1998 6:20:00 AM
From: Bobby Yellin	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 116762

Hi- your thoughts have given me a great framework..saddened me to be forced to face how unethical the pursuit of bottom line is Noticing that South Africa has been doing quite well...another indicator for commodities? your thoughts that the Asian crisis is half done..another indicator that commodities have bottomed...sharp rise in the stock market when Asian meltdown will probably be reflected in coming earnings besides needed Year2000 remediation in corporations suggests that the market is going to have a really nice correction as you alluded to.. I can't imagine what Year2000 problems might do to the derivative market... off topic:general: hope the Clinton jokes diminish on this thread. I have a feeling if people were to do a little self examination they might not keep on coming out with jokes on Clinton but view it as a potential tragedy for the US and just try to be "better people" whatever that means..I am saddened that people don't assume more responsibility and blame for their own actions and grow rather than just having a field day pointing at others to make themselves feel better about themselves...(again I am not pro clinton)