According to a Reuters report, Britain’s financial watchdog could intervene if there are too few participants to set commodity benchmarks including gold and silver. Since Deutsche Bank’s withdrawal from the fixing process, without a replacement, this leaves only four banks – Barclays, HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia and Sociéte Generale involved in the twice daily London Gold Fixing process – and only two (HSBC and Bank of Nova Scotia) to fix the daily silver price.
“Everyone’s angry at Barrick right now. Everyone’s mad at [Barrick Chair and founder] Peter Munk because of botched deal after botched deal, fraudulent activity due to their Pascua-Lama mine, and they’re also being sued in the British High Court for the killings that have happened with regularity at their North Mara mine,” said Sakura Saunders of Protest Barrick.
As Barrick Gold was hosting its AGM in Canada (Barrick Gold Faces Demonstration Against Abuses at Toronto AGM), a state of emergency had been declared at its notorious Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea’s Enga Province, in an attempt to try and stop so-called illegal mining.
“What we have achieved, we have achieved through struggle,”said Julio Peña Celso, President of the Oversight Committee of the Ejido Carrizalillo, Guerrero, Mexico
