Bre-X Scandal, No-one to blame

[Begbie]

A Canadian court has cleared former Bre-X geologist John Felderhof in the only prosecution to arise from the world's biggest mining scandal.

Mr Felderhof was found not guilty of insider trading and misleading thousands of investors after a trial that lasted more than six years.

Bre-X, an Alberta-based firm, collapsed in 1997 after claiming to be sitting on a huge gold deposit in Indonesia.

A later report said the find had been falsified on an unprecedented scale.


BBC NEWS | Business | Bre-X scandal man is not guilty


You may recall this was one of the largest stock frauds in recent history. Gold was introduced into core samples via a shotgun. When the scandal broke the project geologist accidently fell out of a helicopter.

[stroller]

How much did you loose?

[Begbie]

^Don't be daft.

It was a gold mine stock fraud. Toronto stock exchange of course. The Indonesian government was conned to the extent that they were in the process of stealing the acerage and giving it to one of Suharto's sons.

[Hootad Binky]

"He was accused of having sold Bre-X stock worth 84 million Canadian dollars ($79m) just months before independent surveys showed that the alleged gold deposit was, in fact, fake."

Nice haul!

[Spin]

The US government should go on trial for their manipulation of gold prices. They introduce periods of heavy selling when the price threatens resistance levels at around 700 U$D.

[Hootad Binky]

^ The same thing is happening now in the energy sector; there is little incentive to build new refineries to increase supply and thereby lower fuel prices.

[sabang]

I have known John Felderhof for many years- since 1986 actually. He is a highly respected geologist, one of the team behind the massive Ok Tedi find in New Guinea. When I first did business with him he was involved with a company called Jason Mining that had a 'massive' prospect in the Filipines. This also proved to be of no commercial value.
Last thing I knew, he was living in The Bahamas with his millions.
I went down to see him in Jakarta, when the Indon government was trying to muscle into the gold deposit, on the cheap. The whole thing imploded a few months after. The chief geologist, a Filipino guy called Guzman, apparently committed suicide by jumping out of a helicopter as the scandal was about to break.
The thing is, he was livid about what the Indonesian government was trying to do. If he actually knew the whole thing was a fraud, then he's a bloody good actor. I have no 'inside' knowledge, but I suspect the assay results were doctored by Guzman, without his knowledge.

[Boon Mee]

How much did you loose?

Heh...bet he did.

"methinks the lady protestith too much"

[Begbie]

^You seem a bit obsessed. Want me to send you an autographed photo ?

[Boon Mee]

Want me to send you an autographed photo ?

Of whom?
Georgie?

[Begbie]

There's a good summary of the whole affair here.

The Bre-X Gold Scandal

[Dougal]

Is this as big as the 'Oil Sniffing' technology that the French governement paid $50 million for?