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Bre-X Minerals Ltd.

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Dictionary Says

Definition of 'Bre-X Minerals Ltd.'

One of the biggest mining scams and frauds perpetrated by any company in Canada. Bre-X Minerals was formed by former stockbroker David Walsh in 1988. In 1993, at the behest of Walsh's partner, geologist John Felderhof, the company commenced gold exploration near the Busang river in Indonesia, with geologist Michael de Guzman hired as the exploration manager. By 1996, Bre-X was estimating that the Busang property contained 47 million ounces of gold and the company's market capitalization had exceeded C$6 billion.

The scam unraveled rapidly in March 1997, after de Guzman reportedly fell to his death from a helicopter over the Indonesian jungle, shortly after potential Busang project partner, Freeport-McMoran, said that its due diligence had revealed only insignificant amounts of gold at the property. Bre-X plunged on the news and was delisted in May 1997, in the process wiping out billions of dollars for its hapless investors.
Investopedia Says

Investopedia explains 'Bre-X Minerals Ltd.'

The Bre-X fraud was perpetrated by the simple act of salting core samples with gold. With the deaths of de Guzman in 1997 and David Walsh - who died of a brain aneurysm in 1998 - John Felderhof was the only remaining principal character in this debacle. While charges of illegal insider trading were brought against Felderhof in 1999, he was acquitted of these charges in 2007.

One effect of the Bre-X scandal was to strengthen securities regulation in Canada. National Instrument (NI) 43-101 was ushered in after Bre-X in imploded, in order to improve the quality of mining project disclosures.

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