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To: long-gone who wrote (13818)	6/26/1998 7:56:00 AM
From: Giraffe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116785

From FT site: Millennium coin plan loses support By Kenneth Gooding, Mining Correspondent Big mining companies expected to back the launch of a millennium gold coin have decided against the idea, though the project is moving ahead without their help. It had been hoped that the scheme to sell the coins internationally would lift the gold market out of the doldrums by encouraging the sale of up to an extra 1,000 tonnes of gold. However, Peter Hambro, the mining financier who is one of the founders of the Millennium Gold Coin Company, said on Thursday sales of 1,000 tonnes of gold this way was "unrealistic". "If we sell 20m to 30m coins we would be doing very well." At today's price, that means an extra 300 to 450 tonnes of gold might be sold, roughly equivalent to the annual output of the US, the second largest producer. Mr Hambro said the coins would retail at about $150 each. He has personally financed the scheme so far, together with another well known mining personality, Willie McLucas, former chief executive of Waverley Mining of Scotland. Mr Hambro said they hoped to raise initially $10m to $15m for the Millennium Gold Coin Company. Progress so far includes: Agreement in principle for Experian, part of the Great Universal Stores group and one of world's biggest suppliers of consumer credit information and marketing services, to handle international sales and distribution of the coins; HHCL, a marketing communications agency with experience of product launches, such as British Airways' new low-cost airline, has been hired for the launch; Three bullion banks - Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, SBC Warburg Dillon Read and Salomon Smith Barney - have expressed interest in financing stock and work in progress. Originally, some of the biggest gold groups seemed enthusiastic about the millennium coin. They included Barrick Gold and Placer Dome of Canada, Newmont Mining of the US and Anglogold of South Africa. Robert Champion de Crespigny, chairman of Normandy Mining, Australia's biggest gold group, was asked to report on the potential. John Willson, Placer Dome's chief executive, said this week: "The group looking at the potential of the millennium coin idea concluded that, in light of all the other millennium projects, it would not be attractive to sponsor that idea." However, discussions among gold producers, under the auspices of the World Gold Council, were taking place to consider sponsorship of existing gold-based millennium projects that had the potential to raise the profile of gold and encourage gold sales. Mr Hambro said that, because of the progress made by the Millennium Gold Coin Company since the de Crespigny report was compiled, he was sure some gold producers would find the scheme attractive enough to provide backing. He hoped the first coins would be on sale in January, initially concentrating on the key markets of the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Australia.

To: long-gone who wrote (13818)	6/26/1998 7:00:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116785

''The market has been very focused on the yen/dollar. Nevertheless, what we have seen over the past few days has been the first signs of gold trying to break away from that influence,'' he said. Gold and silver holding despite currency wobbles 11:40 a.m. Jun 26, 1998 Eastern LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Gold and silver managed largely to hold their levels through Europe's afternoon on Friday, despite pressure from weakness in both the Japanese yen and the South African rand, dealers said. Gold fixed lower at $293.65 an ounce, down on the morning's $294.50, after an options-inspired push towards $295.00 gave out under the weight of currency-related selling. Weakness in the yen and rand blighted gold and silver sentiment, the first because of its effect on Southeast Asian demand and the second due to fears of mine hedge sales from a major gold producing nation. Rand weakness, which dealers said reversed amid market intervention by both the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, pushed local gold prices to fresh 17-month highs just under 1,700 rand per troy ounce. ''We are probably at quite a critical stage for gold,'' said one London dealer. ''The market has been very focused on the yen/dollar. Nevertheless, what we have seen over the past few days has been the first signs of gold trying to break away from that influence,'' he said. ''It's held very well at the bottom of its $292-$298 range and has been pretty well bought on COMEX,'' he added. Dollar/yen was last at 142.81/142.86, a level which when hit on June 16, saw gold between $283.90 and $288.60. Friday's expiry in over-the-counter options for gold and silver saw a rally in gold ahead of the 1330 GMT deadline but little move in silver. Spot gold was last at $293.00/$293.50 versus Thursday's New York close of $293.60/$294.10. Silver was last off its earlier highs at $5.40, trading at $5.30/$5.33 an ounce, five cents down on New York's close. Palladium pivoted around $290.00/$300.00 an ounce, apparently unable to digest Thursday's news that Russia might use a substantial tranche of metal as security for a loan. Analysts in Moscow and London said such schemes for Russia to borrow billions of dollars against its precious metals would do little to restore badly needed confidence in the economy. Russia could look for much-needed funds by borrowing against its precious metals reserves, they said. Collateral-backed loans could mean fast money on good terms but analysts questioned whether that would be a good idea. ''Anything like this is just piecemeal and it is not going to restore confidence,'' said Peter Boone, co-director of research at Moscow investment bank Brunswick-Warburg. ''You need at least $10 billion and signals that more is coming and more is available if needed,'' he said, referring to hopes of a $10 billion-$15 billion package from the International Monetary Fund. Russia has not officially exported any platinum or palladium so far this year, causing prices to surge as markets anticipated a re-run in last year's six-month export delay. Platinum was last down $2.00 on New York, trading at $350.00/$352.00 while palladium was little changed at $290.00/$300.00. ((Patrick Chalmers, London Newsroom +44 171 542 8057. london.commodities.desk+reuters.com)) Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.