Submitted by jamescookenotthatone t3_yvuzym in todayilearned
Also the geologist that “committed suicide” did so by jumping out of a helicopter, after surgically removing both his hands and feet. Seems legit
Lmao. Not suspicious at all
I am glad I read this, was going to say the same thing. Our Canadian mining companies have a shit reputation in other countries.
Even Putin having people thrown from windows is more credible.
Coincidence death McAfee style soon to be the FTX guy
Yesyesnononoyesno
What does "were salted" mean?
Added gold to the samples, to make it look like a high potential deposit. Faking the results, because they know its no good.
From my vague memory, they may have had the samples in bags of ground dirt - extra gold thrown in.
A regular technique might have solid core, photos taken, then grind only half the core - the rest retained as evidence.
could have been easily verified through independent lab. as a result all canadian mining companies need to go through third party for Ni 43-101 sample to verify claims.
I work in the industry, but in another country. The first time I saw an NI 43-101 report, I was stunned at how much detail companies were required to provide regarding the preparation of the samples. It all made sense when I realized that the reporting standard was a response to Bre-X.
And it's the reason you can't get your samples officially assayed on site anymore and have to have it done by a third party.
A guy shaved off gold from jewelry (probably his wedding ring) and added the flakes to the sample. A viable Gold mine requires a fairly tiny amount of gold per square foot of earth so even a tiny tiny sprinkling of extra gold will make the sample go from worthless to well "goldmine!".
You can put gold in a rock sample and people will think you found a gold reserve.
They loaded shotgun shells with real gold and fired them into the vein. When the samples are taken, there is now far more gold present in the verified sample.
A geologist committing suicide really reminds you that tomorrow is never pumiced to anyone and we shouldn't take it for granite.
This is a really profound sediment.
An aggregate of wisdom.
The advice is rock solid
^^^fruity ^^^pebbles
The erosion in quality of these puns has been seismic.
Omg that sounds so good rn
Gneiss
This entire thread has metamorphed into this slate of puns.
Oh? I thought it rather shale-ow.
Well…., don’t jump to conclusions, maybe he had Metal Health issues.
r/angryupvote
A gem of a statement
Watch the movie 'Gold' starring Matthew McConaughey.
I recall those days not so fondly, seeing the Bre-X office here in Calgary. The hoopla over it was enough to make me suspicious and stay away, but sadly, my mutual fund managers invested heavily.
In the 1800s con artists used to buy vast swathes of wilderness in the US and go there with bags of gold dust and gold nuggets. They would strategically plant gold around the area, and then hire a shady geologist to say that there is gold there.
Then they’d statt a company to mine the gold, which would be massively funded. Then they’d sell all their shares and flee overseas.
They present a similar scheme on sneaky Pete but with uranium and they con someone into buying the property thinking it has uranium rich soil by planting something to set off Geiger counters.I think it was cat litter or something iirc
Suicide eh...
"Jumped" from a helicopter eh...
From the wiki:
>The fraud began to unravel rapidly on March 19, 1997, when Filipino Bre-X geologist Michael de Guzman reportedly committed suicide by jumping from a helicopter in Indonesia. A body was found four days later in the jungle, missing the hands and feet, "surgically removed".
That's as much a suicide as a russian falling from a window, onto two bullets in the back of the head.
Or Gary Webb, who was about to testify about the US gov't running drugs through Arkansas while Bill C. was governor, who suicided himself with two bullets to the back of the head.
maude, eh…
For coroners in Russia, Iran, China, Sicily and North Korea, it's certainly a suicide.
This is a terrific history of the entire scandal. I’d forgotten about the movie version “Gold” with Matthew McConaughey https://redcloudfs.com/25-years-after-bre-x-by-the-man-who-made-a-fortune-going-long-short-of-the-biggest-ever-mining-fraud/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=25-years-after-bre-x-by-the-man-who-made-a-fortune-going-long-short-of-the-biggest-ever-mining-fraud
So many memories of that story …the research report I tried to kill, only delayed, alas the Buy recommendation came out a week before Bre-X blew up.
First comment during the trade halt was that Goldfields was making a takeout bid.
Another was the Alberta Legislature demanding the portfolio manager explain why they were exposed.
Fun (but sad) was the analyst who had his core sample (yes, he’d been to the site) assayed AFTER the news broke …just think how valuable that information would have been to have run it right after he got back!
Oh ya. I remember that. My ex decided she was going to be an investor (I have an MBA with honours and a Canadian Securities Course with honours and I actually managed the portfolio for the extended family). She took $35,000 and put it all into Bre-X.
She did that the day before the news broke that the samples had been salted. When trading was resumed, the shares were worthless. $35k in less than 48 hours. "...and it's gone!" in real life.
Made a Matthew Mcconaughey movie about it.
It was pretty dull.
I work with a guy who lost a pile on this, not "I'm ruined" amounts but enough that his coworkers got a lot of mileage out of taking the piss out of him over the years.
Suicide, he "slipped" and fell out of a helicopter.
Canadaland had a good podcast episode about this. A horribly fascinating story.
I remember driving by their building heading downtown. My dad lost a small fortune with this. edit spelling
A relative has a share certificate from one of the bankrupt subsidiaries from back then.
He Epstein’d himself before it was cool.
jamescookenotthatone OP t1_iwg67jy wrote
In case you are wondering, noone went to jail over billions in fraud.
Some things of note,
>The lab's tests showed that gold in one hole had been shaved off gold jewelry
and for something weird,
>Walsh moved to the Bahamas in 1998, still professing his innocence. Two masked gunmen broke into his home in Nassau, tying him up, and threatened to shoot him unless he turned over all his money. The incident ended peacefully but three weeks later, on June 4, 1998, Walsh died of a brain aneurysm.[19][20]