Bre-X: The Inside Story

by Diane Francis

Book Overview

For 2 years, BRE-X was the darling of the world's stock markets. Millionaires were created over night; until the scam was uncovered. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550139134
• ISBN13: 9781550139136
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Key Porter Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive, but repetitive at times

I did not follow the bre-x story as I do not invest in shares. I decided to read this book because in an earlier book I read, "Asian Eclipse", mention was made of the bre-x story and it seemed interesting to me. I was not dissapointed.The Bre-x story revealed a lot about the greed of people and perhaps how people of the mining industry work. They depend a lot on guesswork.It also shows how sloppy work done by analysts can result in a financial disaster. Analysts are supposed to be professionals and they are highly paid too. In the Bre-x story, it is revealed that some analysts can be easily influenced by weak evidence and are not as professional as they are made up to be. These sloppy professionals not only spoil the name of their profession, but clearly, do not deserve the high pay they demand.The Bre-x story was in part fueled by the flawed recommendation of the analysts. This leads one to consider if financial disasters of the past are due in some ways to such sloppy professionals. Another train of thought is whether we should continue paying good money to such so-called professional analysts or consultants.I like the book because it covered the whole story of bre-x and the reading was easy and captivating. It also showed issues of greed and insights into the world of finance and mining.However, I was dissapointed in several parts of the book when the author repeated herself in the book. The other thing was that the author was not very good at telling the story when simultaneous events were happening. She has a tendency to back-track the story. As such, the story was not smooth in its delivery.Overall, I will still recommend the book for those who are interested in the mining industry, financial scandals and tales of greed. Maybe, for those who are interested in the Soeharto family will also pick up the book. The family was featured in about a third of the book. The greed of the family was clearly shown in the book.

Largest Mining Fraud in History

This saga of the greatest gold mining fraud in history is terrific. The narrative really does read like a novel, I couldn't put it down! How many non-fiction books can one say that about? Diane Francis has done an outstanding job of bringing the tale of the small Calgary junior mineral exploration company and it's officers to life: David Walsh, a failed penny-stock promoter, John Felderhof, a Dutch born globe trotting Canadian mineral exploration geologist and his colleauge and former co-worker Filipino geologist Michael de Guzman. Bre-X shares made a round trip from a penny stock listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange to a split adjusted price of C$286.50, for a market value of C$6.8 billion, at it's peak. Investors, both small individual and large institutional (including the mutual fund giant Fidelity), lost billions when the facts came to light about the company's Busang gold "deposit" in the Indonesian jungles of east Borneo, which was claimed to be the biggest in the world. After the news came out the stock tumbled on the Toronto Stock Exchange, causing their computer trading systems to lock up because of the huge volume of sales, to just a few cents a share days later before being delisted and worthless. Bre-X claims of finding the gold discovery of the century were discredited when U.S. mining firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold found "only insignificant amounts of gold'' in the core samples that it took as part of it's due diligence as Bre-X's partner to develop the deposit. Further audits found "virtually no possibility of an economic gold deposit." When company geologist Michael de Guzman was on the way to discuss Freeport's findings he comitted suicide by jumping out of a helicopter. Shortly afterward de Guzman's lieutenant, Cesar Puspos, and their Filipino geological team disappeared. I don't want to give away too much of the book, it is excellant and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in mining scams or investment swindles.