I think that what ever happens with any large producer has little to do with future PM prices.
For producers to have an effect, they would have to tag team and withold metals from the markets.

To get a good handle one has to look at the situation with the dollar and whether it is still in a state of control. The dollar control reversely reflects on gold (and other PMs) and that in turn on share prices of PM stocks.
Gold has been down but the manipulation now looks tired.

Singapore exchange has decided to not use paper ( future) gold in it's pricing ( see Sinclair's comments) so that is a better indicator, imho.