MOTHER OF ALL GOLD-BUY SIGNALS?

Thursday, October 27, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com
NEWS ANALYSIS/PROPHET TALK ...

FMNN recently covered the surprising New York Times feature bashing gold miners and now an alert reader has informed FMNN that a quote from the article is quite similar to one that recently ran in the United Kingdom’s Independent newspaper ("The Real Price of Gold" By Daniel Howden, October 26, 2005) as follows, "On the back of this surge, gold prices have reached a 17-year high, and yesterday rose $7.70 (£4.30) to more than $474 per ounce. But the world's remaining gold deposits are microscopic and the environmental costs of extracting them are profound."

And here’s the Times quote, "The price of gold is higher than it has been in 17 years - pushing $500 an ounce. But much of the gold left to be mined is microscopic and is being wrung from the earth at enormous environmental cost, often in some of the poorest corners of the world." Explains our reader, “Both writers [appear to be] working off the same talking points.”

The concerted attack is even more surprising for its suddeness and aggressiveness. Its thesis is that open-pit mining’s use of cyanide to separate out gold from tons of crushed rock and earth constitutes a form of “dirty gold,” poisoning indigenous communities against their will.

Resource Investor’s “Pitpundit Blog” reported yesterday on a PBS/Frontline program accompanying the New York Times story, one that blasts giant Newmont Mines, among others, for its industrial practices.

Pitpundit points out with some astonishment that a funder of the program is mining company supplier ABB, then observes, “Sheesh, if I was Newmont I'd have second thoughts about buying from ABB next time if they're going to put their money and brand behind a bash fest targeting one of their largest customers.” The magazine also mentions the radical environmental group Earthworks whose site prominently features a link to “No Dirty Gold.”

This ‘Net forum – seemingly appearing out of nowhere - is, in fact, specifically set up to generate support against “dirty” mining companies, those reportedly exploiting the environment and indigenous peoples. No Dirty Gold lists numerous allies in its campaign on “dirty” mining including various “Friends of the Earth” groups, Greenpeace and the Environmental Defense Fund. The President and CEO of Earthworks is himself from Greenpeace.

According to the Earthworks bio, boss Stephen D'Esposito, “was instrumental in building Greenpeace USA into one of the largest environmental groups in the U.S., from 1986 through 1992.” Earthworks also has ties to some of the most prestigious and powerful non-profit grantors in the business.

A prominent member of the board of directors of Earthworks is Michael E. Conroy who turns out to be the “program officer” for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. A quick crosscheck shows that fully ONE THIRD of the names of No Dirty Gold “Campaign Allies” would seem to have received Rockefeller Brothers bequests in the 2000s.

These include Greenpeace and various “Friends of the Earth” - No Dirty Gold Campaign Allies all. The ABB/PBS funding connection that Resource Investor is astonished about may also be explained via a Rockefeller connection as Jürgen Dormann, chairperson of the board of ABB, is also chairperson of the management board of Aventis – a pharmaceutical company that received funding from I.G. Farben/Rockefeller after World War II. (Ties, actually, are greater than the scope of this article allows.)

Free-market observers who believe in gold are not at all downcast by this concerted attack on the gold-mining industry, citing it as a buying ...

Read the entire feature article at: FreeMarketNews
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1526