To: jlallen who wrote (10818 ) 3/23/1998 9:40:00 AM From: Tom Frederick Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Mr. Allen, if I may add something here, the very FIRST issue revolved around the insistence of Naxos to use "standard testing" which translated to SFA on the ore. Only SFA was going to be accepted as believeable testing. Well, Naxos knew full well that, at that time, with the testing they were playing with, SFA would give them very poor numbers, but several of the "experimental" methods produced good numbers. Naxos was being forced into testing that the ASE knew would produce lousy numbers but according to the letter of the rules of the exchange, they could make a case. Naxos went ahead and did testing using their own methods, published those results and made it clear that those results where NOT approved by the ASE (remember the old sign off on PR's?) As more and more testing was done showing gold and the platinum group, and Ledoux became more and more involved the credibility of results was being bolstered and more important repeated with more and more testing. As this developed, the "reality" of gold was no longer a viable angle for the ASE so "trading irregularities" became the new focus. But it is important to remember, the reality of PM's was the springboard. Now there are a variety of more diabolical and complicated side stories and motivations that can be brought in, but I think the above should help to clarify the core issue of where the charges from the ASE started and where we are now.
