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To: Mark Bartlett who wrote (22140)	10/22/1998 1:36:00 PM
From: Giraffe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116779

Australian gold groups unite By Gwen Robinson in Sydney Australian gold producers have united to form an umbrella body to lobby both domestically and inter-nationally for their interests. The Australian Gold Council - no relation to the Geneva-based World Gold Council - was established at a meeting of 58 gold companies in Perth this week. Robert Champion de Crespigny, executive chairman of Normandy Mining, Australia's largest gold producer, will head the new council. Peter Lalor, chairman of Sons of Gwalia, is deputy chairman. Most of Australia's gold mining and exploration companies have agreed to join. Doubts have emerged whether the group will be able to rise above the numerous state chambers of mines and national mining bodies to lobby effectively on issues such as tax concessions for exploration and the Australian stock market's exclusion of many gold companies. Internationally, as sole representative of the world's third largest gold producing country, AGC intends to promote awareness of the "special problems" faced by Australian gold miners, who say they are undervalued in overseas markets because of different accounting procedures. The body will complement rather than contradict the policies of the World Gold Council in its effort to promote Australian gold producers. The problems faced by Australian gold mining companies are not well understood overseas, said Mr de Crespigny. Their accounting standards and methodology have generated misconceptions that Australians are high-cost producers with short-life mines. "We need to get out and fix that up, or one day we will not have an industry here at all. It will all be taken over by people from overseas." Don Morley, World Gold Council chief executive and Australia-based finance director of WMC, one of Australia's largest mining companies, said the WGC "does not get involved in parochial issues". The move by Australian producers to set up their own council would give the local industry a unified voice in efforts to achieve international recognition, he said. The secret of achieving unity in a fragmented industry, said Mr de Crespigny, was the "highly representative" membership structure. All members have one vote each, but smaller companies, producing fewer than 1,000 ounces annually, will pay just A$500 in yearly membership, while large companies, such as Normandy, will pay A$30,000 (US$18,850). Members, categorised by size, would elect the same number of directors to the board. Annual proceeds of about A$400,000 would enable "day-to-day" running of two offices, while special projects, including research, would be financed by the companies concerned.

To: Mark Bartlett who wrote (22140)	10/22/1998 1:37:00 PM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116779

Gold Is Trotted Out As Russia's Savior Proposals Hint at Return to Old Standard ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Agence France-Presse ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MOSCOW - With the ruble discredited and vulnerable, Russian authorities have begun to float radical proposals to put gold back at the heart of the national economy, using reserves to underpin and even partly replace the flagging domestic currency. Well aware that printing rubles to finance a growing budget deficit will further undermine the currency, officials have introduced several ideas, one of which involves minting a bullion coin that would literally be worth its weight in gold. Some analysts have cautiously welcomed the mobilization of gold to defend the ruble. But others warned that the move would not provide a long-term solution for Russia's predicament. The problem for the government revolves around the huge discrepancy between the amount it plans to spend and the funds it can realistically bring in. Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov's government plans to spend 130 billion rubles ($7.67 billion) in the fourth quarter, having pledged to pay off back wages and keep up with foreign-debt repayments. Income, however, is penciled in at just 70 billion rubles. As Moscow has shattered the trust of borrowers with its debt default in August, its options for financing the deficit are painfully limited. Although an International Monetary Fund mission was in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with government officials, analysts have said further loans are unlikely to emerge, at least this year. Against this inauspicious background, the government has increasingly referred cryptically to ''mobilizing internal reserves'' to break its financial vicious circle. A regional governor suggested early this month that Russia return to the gold standard and reintroduce the 1920s-vintage ''golden ruble,'' under which the Russian currency would be tied to the central bank's gold reserves. Some analysts have scoffed at this option. ''The gold standard went out in the 1930s, and I don't think a single country can go back,'' said a London-based gold specialist, Tim Green. ''It's not a good idea.'' But the gold-standard idea has since given birth to another. Last weekend, a senior official from Gokhran, the state precious-metals repository, said plans were advancing to use gold and silver reserves to mint new coins. The mint, the argument runs, would help authorities pay off the wage backlog without inflationary money-printing and would restore trust in a ruble-denominated store of value. The central bank has yet to declare its position on the coin issue, but many economists are skeptical. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <Picture> iht.com