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BRE-X Scandal Summary (9 replies)
I was researching for a BRE-X Scandal Summary and it seems that all the technical information on Busang has been sterilized from the public domain. I found only a BSc thesis by Evan Slater, Dalhousie University of Halifax, NS, (2013) titled "Geochemical and fluid inclusion study of hydrothermal mineralization in the Busang Southeast Zone, Kalimantan, Indonesia:
Unique insight into the Bre-X Scandal". The geological discussion on the Busang area itself is sketchy, he mostly worked on a collection of core pieces that had been kept by Dr. George Clinton Milligan from one visit to the site. I have a pdf copy, which gladly will share. Good luck, and if you manage to find any other technical reports please let us know! Cheers.
I read Bre-X: Gold Today, Gone Tomorrow by Vivian Danielson a couple of months ago and found it to be pretty decent covering on the technical components. It also might point you in a decent direction for finding some people more familiar with the project. I tried finding some papers in addition to Hugo's and came up a little short.
There was an engineer at Strathcona Mineral Services named Henrik Thalenhorst who did the investigation of the Bre-X case. He was the person who wrote the letter to the Securities Exchange which halted the trading of the stock. There was a video presentation where he described his "red flags" of geological problems to watch out for in order to detect a fraud.
Thank you very much Hugo for report! It seems like what I’m searching about is:
http://earthsciences.dal.ca/aboutus/publications/theses/BSc/ES_2013_BSc_Slater_Evan.pdf
Thank you Richard for recommendation I’ll find it.
Unfortunately there is no video with presentation on Mr. Thalenhorst as a result of my googling.
Farquharson, G., Thalenhorst, H., Guttenberg, R. ., Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd., & Bre-X (Firm). (1997). Busang Project: Technical audit for Bre-X Minerals Ltd. : interim report. Toronto, Ont: Strathcona Mineral Services Limited.
Henrik Thalenhorst of Strathcona (geologist) might be able to provide his materials which are in the public domain.
Here's a link to the affidavit of MJ Lawrence gave. He goes through the "Red flags" from a geological prospective (half-core was not left in the box, no visible gold, etc). This might be helpful.
http://securities.stanford.edu/filings-documents/1012/BXMNF97/1998326_o20x_Lawrence.pdf
Also the University of Toronto has a copy of the technical report mentioned above (Busang Project:Technical audit for Bre-X Minerals) in it's library collection. This probably isn't very helpful for you, but copies exist. I know UofT shares books with partner libraries, that might be worth looking into if you really want it. Or searching university libraries closer to home for you.
I am preparing a Bre-X scandal summary and article about Bre-x fraud as am a geologist focusing on geological part with general idea how to avoid this fraud. Now I found only archive news or books from journalist who don’t pay attention on technical details. As far as I know there was a report of Freeport McMoran who made an independent report.