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

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (28451)	2/17/1999 4:17:00 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116762

Things were so good that: BP Amoco To Cut 3,000 More Jobs By ROBERT SEELY Associated Press Writer LONDON (AP) - BP Amoco will eliminate 3,000 more jobs after profits fell sharply in the fourth quarter due to oil prices that are at a 12-year low and a downturn in the refining and chemicals business. Chief executive Sir John Browne said the latest job cuts are on top of 7,000 cuts already announced, amounting to a 10 percent reduction of the work force created when British Petroleum bought Chicago-based Amoco Corp dailynews.yahoo.com

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (28451)	2/18/1999 8:32:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116762

Canada's Placer Dome reports fourth-quarter profit 06:59 p.m Feb 18, 1999 Eastern VANCOUVER, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Lower costs, higher production and a lucrative gold hedging programme allowed senior Canadian gold producer Placer Dome Inc. (PDG.TO) to report a fourth-quarter profit on Thursday. Vancouver-based Placer earned $31 million, or $0.10 a share, after distributions of preferred securities in the fourth quarter of 1998, compared to a loss of $284 million, or $1.16 a share, in the year-earlier period. For the full year, Placer posted a profit of $105 million, or $0.36 a share, after distributions against a loss of $249 million, or $1.06 a share, in 1997. Like most gold mining companies, Placer was hard hit last year by financial crisis in Asian economies and the subsequent fall in the value of key commodities such as gold. Gold, a traditional hedge against inflation and uncertainty in financial markets, plummeted last summer to near 18-year lows of around $270 an ounce. The yellow metal traded at $286 an ounce on Thursday. ''Placer Dome's strong financial performance, in spite of the lowest average annual gold price in 20 years, reflects improved profit margins at our mines, our successful gold hedging programme and reduced corporate overhead,'' Placer's Chief Executive John Willson said in a press release. Placer produced 2.9 million ounces of gold last year at a cash cost of $149 an ounce compared to production of about 2.7 million ounces at a cash cost of about $202 an ounce in 1997. Hedging also paid a handsome dividend in the fourth quarter, allowing the company to sell its gold at a $51-an-ounce premium over the average spot price of $294 an ounce in 1998. Placer said it has hedged 25 percent of its future gold production at a price of $475 an ounce through to 2001. The company has estimated it will produce in the neighbourhood of 3.2 million ounces in 1999. Placer also said it benefited from an aggressive reorganization of the company, which was started in 1998 in a bid to lower production costs at its mines stretching from the Americas to Africa. ''Every mine we operate recorded lower cash production costs. Ours is the lowest cash production cost among major producers in the industry. We expect to remain very competitive,'' Willson said. ($1-$1.49 Canadian) ((Paul Simao, Reuters Toronto Bureau (416) 941-8104) or email: toronto.newsroom+reuters.com)) Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.