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

To: goldsnow who wrote (22227)	10/24/1998 8:33:00 PM
From: Giraffe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116832

Gold Miners Fear Cyanide Cutbacks By Susan Gallagher Associated Press Writer Friday, October 23, 1998; 7:15 p.m. EDT HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Cyanide, the lethal compound used by executioners and captured spies to assure a quick death, is also prized by gold miners for its ability to extract gold from rock. But after a number of spills contaminated water sources, Montana voters will decide if it should be banned from most open-pit mining. Miners say that would cripple an industry already reeling from falling gold prices. The measure is ''just another attempt by extremist groups to limit opportunities in Montana,'' said Bill Snoddy, spokesman for a group planning a large open-pit project near Lincoln. Others say a ban on new and expanded mines is necessary after spills like the one in 1982 in the town of Zortman in north-central Montana, when 50,000 gallons spilled, contaminated the town's water supply and poisoned birds and sheep. Cyanide, a poisonous crystalline compound with the odor of bitter almonds, is used to mine gold in other Western states. The measure, if approved, still would allow cyanide in existing Montana mines. Supporters of the measure say the risks aren't worth it. ''My husband and I feel our livelihood has been threatened,'' said Stephanie Shammel, a rancher near Lewistown who says the water source for her cattle was contaminated by an open-pit cyanide operation. The state Department of Environmental Quality takes no position on the measure. It notes that no one was injured as a result of five dozen cyanide spills in Montana in the last 16 years. ''Miners are very careful and we monitor very closely,'' said Bob Winegar of the agency's Environmental Management Bureau. Miners say alternatives are either too expensive or too dangerous.

To: goldsnow who wrote (22227)	10/24/1998 8:46:00 PM
From: Enigma	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116832

Goldsnow - don't know about the others - but IMO Barrick is committed to an ongoing hedging program no matter what the current price is.. If people want to buy unhedged companies they can choose NEM, the South Africans, etc. Having said that I think ABX has flexibility within its hedging program, but it is too much part of its modus operandi to stop. The decision to close mines earlier presumably means that some of them are in effect mothballed awaiting higher prices. E

To: goldsnow who wrote (22227)	10/24/1998 8:48:00 PM
From: Giraffe	Respond to of 116832

Russia state unlikely to export gold in 99-Gokhran MOSCOW, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Russia's State Precious Metals and Stones Reserve, Gokhran, said it expected no state gold exports next year as all the gold it acquired from producers should go to the central bank, Gokhran's head said on Friday. ''Commercial banks can do what they will with their gold, but I see no reason for (1999) gold exports from the state reserve,'' German Kuznetsov told a news conference. ''I wouldn't propose any exports for 1999...as we are about to sign an agreement with the central bank and concentrate efforts on boosting gold and currency reserves,'' he added. Kuznetsov said the central bank would buy bonds backed by 50 tonnes of gold from Gokhran. A respective agreement is expected to be signed early next week. He said that the bonds with a nominal value of 1 kg of gold each would be issued in two tranches each equal to 25 tonnes of gold redeemable with gold ingots in a year's time. The central bank would pay for the bonds in roubles at a price equal to the market price of gold at the time of the deal. Kuznetsov said the bond issue was necessary to finance gold production in Russia. According to the original plan, the producers were expected to supply gold to repay the bonds next autumn. But as commercial banks, due to financial crisis, were unable to buy around 40 tonnes of gold already produced and refined in Russia, Gokhran could use the central bank's money to purchase that and launch another bond issue in February or March 1999. ''We may announce early redemption and launch a new bond issue, in February or March, which may be even larger,'' Kuznetsov said. He would not say whether the central bank would buy all the new issue. He added that the gold backed bond issue plan had been prepared before August 17, when the government froze the rouble debt market and effectively devalued the rouble, sparking economic crisis. Originally Gokhran had been in discussions with Western banks about buying the bond issue, Kuznetsov said, adding that some had expressed interest. But the operation fell victim to the aftermath of the August 17 crisis, and Gokhran decided instead to sell the whole issue to the central bank, which said recently that it would increase gold reserves as part of a plan to back an increase in the money supply. Kuznetsov said that recently a major German bank, which he declined to name, expressed interest in buying bonds worth 30 tonnes of gold, but was told that all the issue would be sold to the central bank. Kuznetsov said Gokhran planned to buy half of Russia's annual gold production, the rest financed by commercial banks. But it acquired only 14 tonnes of gold from producers in 1998. Russia produced 106 tonnes of gold in 1997.