Mining bosses ask Britain to stop selling reserves

South African mining bosses on Wednesday urged Britain to stop selling its gold reserves, cautioning that the price collapse would bring misery to a million people in southern Africa, media reports said. Mining association president Bobby Godsell and union boss James Motlatsi denied that gold was losing its lustre and called on the Bank of England to rethink its controversial sales. Godsell also cast doubt on the likelihood that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would proceed with its planned sale of 300 tonnes of gold, designed to raise about two billion dollars to fund debt relief for poor countries. According to Godsell, the US Federal Reserve, the German Bundesbank, and the Italian and French central banks had all refused to sell gold reserves.