The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources Start with the biggest deposit of gold ever reported, in the headwaters of the Busang River in the steaming jungle of Borneo. The Canadian company Bre-X Minerals Ltd. didnt know about that when it bought rights to the site in 1993. But after Bre-X hired a high-living geologist to map the ore body, the deposit, along with the fever dreams that accompany gold, grew to monster size- by March 1997 that geologist was talking about a 200-million-ounce resource. You do the math at, say US$500 per ounce in mid-1990s dollars. Bre-X prepared for big times ahead by building a gold-plated website, where you could generate your own Bre-X stock chart to follow its meteoric rise. It also had a chart showing the equally meteoric rise of the estimated gold resource: together, those two pages could infect anyone with gold fever. The Sharks Arrive Bigger mineral companies took notice. Some made takeover offers. So did the Indonesian government, in the person of president Suharto and his powerful family. Bre-X owned more of this lode than seemed prudent for such a small, inexperienced foreign firm. Suharto suggested that Bre-X share its fortunate surplus with the people of Indonesia and with Barrick, a firm tied to Suhartos ambitious daughter Siti Rukmana. (Barricks advisors, among them George H. W. Bush and ex-prime minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, also favored this scheme.) Bre-X responded by enlisting Suhartos son Sigit Hardjojudanto on its side. An impasse loomed. To end the contretemps, family friend Mohamad Bob Hasan stepped in to offer all sides a deal. The American firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper Gold, led by another old Suharto friend, would run the mine and Indonesian interests would share the wealth. Bre-X would keep 45 percent of the ownership and Hasan for his pains would accept a share possibly worth a billion or so. Asked what he was paying for this stake, Hasan said, There is no payment, no nothing. It is a very clean deal. Trouble Arises The deal was announced on 17 February 1997. Freeport went to Borneo to start its own due-diligence drilling. Suharto was ready to sign a contract after this step, locking in Bre-Xs land rights for 30 years and starting the flood of gold. But just four weeks later, Bre-Xs geologist at Busang, Michael de Guzman, exited his helicopter that was 250 meters in the air at the time- an evident suicide. On March 26 Freeport reported that its due-diligence cores, drilled only a meter and a half from Bre-Xs, showed insignificant amounts of gold. The next day Bre-X stock lost almost all of its value. Freeport brought more rock samples to its American headquarters under armed guard. Bre-X commissioned a review of Freeports drilling; the review recommended more drilling. Another review focusing on the chemical assays caused Bre-X to clam up completely on 1 April, and Suhartos signature was postponed. Bre-X, in a novel strategy for the time, blamed the Web. CEO David Walsh told a fawning Calgary Herald reporter that the meltdown began when scurrilous local rumors in Indonesia were picked up by one of the ghostwriters on the Internet on the chat page or whatever. Further reviews took the rest of April. Meanwhile, disquieting details began to arise. Industry journalists soon found evidence that the Busang ore samples had been salted with gold dust. Salting of the Earth On Friday 11 April, Northern Miner magazine put a news flash on its site laying out three lines of evidence that Bre-X had been duped. First, contrary to company statements, the Busang core samples had been prepared for assay in the jungle, not in the testing lab. A videotape made by a visitor to the field site showed the humble machines common in assay labs- hammer mills, crushers, and sample splitters. Well-labeled sample bags clearly had finely crushed ore in them. Security was lax enough that samples could easily have been spiked with gold.Second, the local inhabitants had begun panning for gold in the Busang River, but in two years they never found any. Yet Bre-X claimed that gold was visible, a sign of unusually rich ore. And de Guzmans technical report, confusingly, called the gold submicroscopic, which is typical of hard-rock gold ore.Third, the assayer that tested the samples said the gold was predominantly in visible-sized grains. Also, the grains showed signs consistent with being typical river-panned gold dust, such as rounded outlines and rims depleted in silver. The assayer dodged the 64-billion-dollar question, saying that there were indeed ways for hard-rock gold grains to acquire rounded edges- but that argument was a fig leaf. The Curtain Falls Meanwhile, a storm of securities lawsuits arose around Bre-X, which vigorously protested that this was just an unfortunate series of misunderstandings. But it was too late. The collapse of Bre-X cast a cloud over the gold mining industry that lasted into the next century. David Walsh decamped to the Bahamas, where he died of an aneurysm in 1998. Bre-Xs chief geologist, John Felderhof, eventually went on trial in Canada but was acquitted of securities fraud in July 2007. Apparently in selling part of his stock holdings for $84 million in the months before the scandal hit he had not been criminal, just too stupid to catch the fraud. And I have been told that Michael de Guzman has been seen in Canada, years after the scandal. The explanation would be that, as was rumored at the time, an anonymous corpse was thrown from the helicopter. You could say the very jungle had been salted as well as the ore bags.

Assume vs. Presume

Assume vs. Presume Assume vs. Presume Assume vs. Presume By Maeve Maddox Both words have numerous definitions in the OED, but in ordinary usage, both assume and presume mean suppose. I suppose you are going to the beach this summer. I assume you are going to the beach this summer I presume you are going to the beach this summer. H.W. Fowlers opinion was that in using presume, the speaker believes the supposition is true and will believe it until he learns otherwise. In using assume, the speaker feels no certainty that his supposition is true or not. In a legal context, presume means to take as proved until contrary evidence is presented. Ex. The defendant is presumed innocent. Because of the association of the word presume with legal contexts, it carries a connotation of formality. For the fiction writer, presume would be the preferable choice in the speech of a remote or officious character. Here are some quotations from newspapers: cant even agree on why we disagree about President Trump, a USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll finds, but we assume the worst about the other side. Republicans described Trump’s opponents as lazy, narrow-minded  and mired in (www.usatoday.com) Even the most secure corporate networks tend not to take that sort of approach: once you’re in the secure zone, they assume you’re one of the good guys.† The future won’t be a hack-free heaven. Software is complex, mistakes (www.theguardian.com) As the heirs to those brave patriots who fought the American Revolution, we must not retreat from the ramparts they built. Due process was costly to achieve in battle and ought not to be conveniently ignored. When someone raises an allegation that the law has been violated, we must presume that the claim lacks merit until evidence is tested in a court of law and a judge or jury makes a ruling. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:When to Capitalize Animal and Plant Names50 Synonyms for â€Å"Idea†10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills

I Sought My Brother Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

I Sought My Brother - Essay Example Evans and S. Allen Counter (Harding 1). These two authors transverse the Suriname rain forests, of the independently new black republic along the South American central north coast. Driven by a deep feeling of ancestral calling, the authors went to seek ways out, in which the communities descended from enslaved Africans that rebelled against their Dutch masters and fled into the jungles in the last half of the 18th century. As a result, stunning pictorials have been presented due to the series of pilgrims. Allan counter was very interested in finding out about the Bush African Americans of whom were basically untouched by modern civilization and lived deep in the jungles of Suriname in absolute isolation (Harding 1). Counter wanted to know how much of the original African culture was retained by the Bush African Americans because he thought it is significant for all African American people. The accounts of I sought my brother are condensed experiences from 1972 to 1978. However, the two authors are successful in conveying the feeling of strong emotions as well as the spiritual experience that were considered central to the adventure of courage. For example, during the last several days of the perilous boat ride on the first adventure, the authors eventually met the people they were looking for, and were overwhelmed by the thought of having traced their living ancestors, their pre-slavery bloodline of whom were still alive. In addition, Evans and Counter documented very well the totality, vitality as well as life of the mostly remote African American river communities in Suriname (Harding 1). Viewing the numerous pages of photographs, in both black and white and in color format, it is easily understandable why the authors said, â€Å"our eyes continuously told us we were in Africa, while our minds knew we were in South America.† One interesting thing about the villager’s traditions

Shackletons Artic Adventure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Shackletons Artic Adventure - Assignment Example when Ernest Shackleton, an Irish born explorer, distinguished himself, not only among the masses, but also among the 27 crew members that included scientists, officers and seamen. Shackleton earned the respect shown to him by these men, not to mention the respect of millions today, by serving as an able leader putting his men’s wellbeing, both physical and mental, above everything else (WGBH, 2001). Repeatedly during the expedition, the Endurance crew members faced fatal situations, yet every time, they were able to beat the odds and survived. Although some of their success can be attributed to providence or luck, but Shackleton’s leadership is widely regarded as the critical differentiation. Put your people first. While Shackleton was leading the expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole, he himself and his crew members suffered a great ordeal that eventually made them weak. Shackleton realized that a further push would be equivalent to putting their life at risk. That is why he chose to turn back, even though he knew that being the first to reach the South would bring hi everlasting fame and glory. Alongside the strong desire to lead to the expedition, his sense of responsibility for his men was impeccable. This decision of Shackleton gave his crew members the confidence that their lives would not be sacrificed as a means for meeting the goal of the expedition. Be flexible in tactics. While the elementary goal to survive remained paramount, Shackleton remained intelligently flexible in the strategies that he adopted to achieve the goal. His adaptability to the demanding environments was incredible and that is what gave him strong control over the expedition and fostered zeal within him making him believe that he would be able to bring all 27 crew members safely back home. Choose your people carefully. The recruitment notice posted by Shackleton itself speaks for his honesty. He knew about the uncertainties that are inevitable during the journey

How Do We Know Something Is True in the Arts and Science Essay Example for Free

How Do We Know Something Is True in the Arts and Science Essay Hey Jamie! I’ve been wondering for a while now how you can really know if something in art or natural sciences is true.? I mean when you look at a piece of art or let’s say the way atoms connect with each other, or how the gravity works, how do you know it’s all true? Obviously there are laws that are connected with these things, however how can you be sure if what the law states is true? Jamie:You’re pretty much right about that, but I think it’s not about the truth for now – first there should be some kind of idea or a belief, before it can be confirmed, right? I mean, for instance Newton came up with the idea of gravity when an apple fell on his head, remember? It made him think about it more and more until the conception of some kind of force that affects everything on Earth popped into his mind, but I don’t think art works the same way†¦ Molly:Right†¦ Art’s totally different thing. Natural science have some rules they work with, even though there probably are some we still don’t know about, however we can notice something that happens the certain way. The rules are true. Well – people, or rather scientists claim so, but they are based on long-term observation and other research, right? Jamie:Right! If someone is absolutely certain that something is true, is it because this is the way he sees it or seeing it equals believing it is true? Molly:Well†¦ That’s a good question. I’ve heard that there are some ways to know that something is true – like I’ve mentioned before, observation, or rather a sense of perception, is one of them, but there is also reason and language that suggests people which is the objective, factual or relative truth. It’s more connected with natural sciences, however when it comes to art the way one can tell something is true is slightly different. Jamie:How so? I mean†¦ I don’t get what your point is. Molly:Look, if you have a piece of art, let’s say a picture of a battle, okay? The one who painted it, probably had some kind of knowledge about the battle he was drawing, right? Jamie:I think so†¦ Molly:So, let’s say, there is a person the picture revolves around, some kind of great figure, a king or other known man. The author of the painting wanted to show ordinary people the greatness of the person he pictured in the centre of his work. And there is a big chance that the person who’ll look at this exact piece of art, will think ‘Oh, that man was so great. ’, but how can he or she know it is true that he was as ‘great’ as the author portrayed him? Then, we could take a work of another author, the same battle, and there will be no person who will attract your attention at first, just the way the battle looked like, dead people, blood on the ground and other realistic fragments. If I was the one comparing these two pictures, I’d get a feeling that the first artist suggested the greatness of the man he portrayed because he was paid or had to do so, while the second one would be more true to me, because it would probably show the facts at some point. Jamie:Oh I see what you mean now! Hmm†¦ I have a feeling that in the end art and natural science are somehow connected when it comes to knowing the truth! Molly:†¦ Okay, now you got me confused. How can they be connected? Explain? Jamie:Oh look! If you take our chemistry book, you’ll find there all kinds of described experiments, right? However it is rare to find the outcomes of these experiments in the book. Molly:Yeah†¦? Jamie:And when you listen to your chemistry teacher, and he’ll tell you before you do the experiment that the product of the reaction should smell the certain way, as let’s say†¦ Hydro-sulfuric acid smells like rotten eggs. After finishing your research and experiment you would probably note that the smell of the acid was of rotten eggs, because this is what has been suggested by your teacher, right? Molly:Oh, now I see how it’s connected to art. Some kind of statement can be suggested to you and you are very likely to believe it, however, then you could find some other research that declines what your teacher claimed or that the guy portrayed in the picture was great. Jamie:Yes! Exactly! But then there arises a new question. Molly:Huh? What question? Jamie:Can we be sure of what people claim to be true to be actually true? Molly:Right†¦ In the end I think we are should stick to the rules that have been stated in the past, because they seem to be true, however after you said that†¦ I’m starting to doubt everything I know! Jamie:Sorry for that! Didn’t want to make you confused! Molly:No, it was actually pretty interesting! Jamie:Yup! But I think we can never be in 100% sure of what is true when it comes to art and natural science. Molly:Yeah, totally agree with you on this one.

The Role of Technology in Management Leadership Essay -- Business Mana

The Role of Technology in Management Leadership Over the last sixty years of business activity, there has been new ways and means of conducting business through something we call technology. Technology is the advancement and use of electronic devices and other high-tech equipment to produce and progress knowledge into the future. Advancements in technology have affected management leadership in many ways over the last sixty years. New technology has altered leaders’ consciousness, language, and the way they view their organization. Technological advancements have made things easier for those in management leadership roles. But as with anything, there are positive and negative aspects of technology on leadership. Some of the positive aspects of technology are: the availability and use of wireless networking, collaboration tools, digital video, handheld devices, and videoconferencing. On the other hand, the negative aspects of technology are: it offers less privacy, it allows for less interaction with others, and it runs a h igh risk of contact with viruses. On the more positive side, wireless networking allows leaders to share resources with their team operating by means of wireless media, such as microwaves, cellular technology, and radio frequencies. Wireless networking is paving the way for technology integration around the world. The use of collaboration tools allows ongoing conversations among leaders, their subordinates, board members, and community members. Professional development is one area where collaboration can have an enormous impact on management leadership. When leaders can casually share new approaches and practices with each other through a technology connection to their workplace, both leaders and their team will benefit. One way of doing this is to create an Internet mailing list where they can share questions, problems, solutions, successful techniques, and less successful techniques. The Internet is enabling digital video to achieve professional-quality and two-way interaction. This will be one of the rare cases wh ere management leadership will be leading a technological shift in society as a whole. Hand-held devices are high-tech gadgets, now more powerful than early Windows or Macintosh machines. Handheld devices offer more versatility than full-size computers and are much more portable than the alternative personal device, the ... ... to remember that the Internet is a public place, and you should never assume that something is secure. Leaders should be the moral compass for groups, but... Technology has blurred some distinctions between what's right and wrong. Many institutions have been caught in the discourse about websites such as Napster. Some people seem to want to have two sets of rules, one for the cold reality of the analog world and another for the magical digital world. It may take many years to establish equilibrium. In the meantime, be clear and consistent about expectations, after you've given full consideration to the implications. Choose your battles, but be prepared to say "let's wait and see". Leaders appreciate differences, but technology threatens to marginalize others. As for any program goal, a leader should always ask "who gets excluded by this approach?" There is a misperception among many leaders that technology is naturally bias-free: The research suggests otherwise. Furthermore, ind ividuals from some backgrounds do not "buy into" or choose to participate in the emerging technology culture, as should be their choice. Be careful when a technological solution becomes the only solution.

I’m Nobody Essay

â€Å"I’m Nobody! Who are You? † is a poem written by Emily Dickinson. The poem conveys the main idea of being alone, isolated from the society – or being â€Å"nobody†. This is partly influenced by the social gender status of Dickinson’s time – 19th century featured the inequality of sexes, where females were expected to stay at home and serve their husbands, thus disconnected from the society. As a result Dickinson had adapted and perhaps taken pleasure into being an outsider, whilst she found it boring to be part of the society – or to be a â€Å"somebody†. These are all various ideas reflected through Emily Dickinson’s poem. The poem has 2 stanzas – very typical of Emily Dickinson’s style. Her choice of language in this poem is also very simple and succinct – but at the same time meaningful and pithy. The first line, â€Å"I’m nobody! †, shows how Dickinson admits to be a â€Å"nobody† willingly. Being a â€Å"nobody† can mean an outsider – a person who is isolated, alienated from the rest of the world and society. The second phrase of the line – â€Å"Who are you? † shows that the poem is directly written to a target. This person – shown on the second line of the first stanza, is a â€Å"nobody† too – perhaps even a friend of Dickinson. The poet also realizes the fact that being a â€Å"nobody† is to be loathed by the society. This is shown in line 3, when she advises the other â€Å"nobody† not to tell, as she states in line 4 â€Å"They’d banish us†. The word â€Å"They† in the beginning of lines 3 and 4 suggests the rest of the society – people who are â€Å"somebody†, as opposed to Dickinson’s â€Å"nobody’. The use of dash in line 3 shows the furtiveness of the phrase â€Å"don’t tell! †, emphasizing the hatred or dislike they face from the society. The same effect is achieved by the use of exclamation mark in line 3. Lines 3 and 4 can also be interpreted as that after she finds another â€Å"nobody†, they are a pair – not longer belong to a group of â€Å"nobodies†. She does not want to be banished from the status of being â€Å"nobodies†. A conclusion can be drawn that she feels more secure to be a â€Å"nobody†; she feels comfortable to be treated as a â€Å"nobody† by the rest of the society. The second stanza sees a noticeable change in Dickinson’s tone. The repetitions of â€Å"How† and â€Å"To† in the beginning of each line give a more secure and commanding tone. This can be explained by the â€Å"discovery† of another â€Å"nobody† stated by the poet in the first stanza – she feels more assured that to be a â€Å"nobody† is not too unacceptable as she is not the only one. Also perhaps because she feels more secure to be with a person who feels the same as she does and understands her, she is more willing and daring to express her more inner feelings. The poet states that it is â€Å"dreary to be somebody† in line 5 of the second stanza. â€Å"Dreary† refers to being boring or dull; and â€Å"to be somebody† suggests to be recognized by the society and belong to it. Hence Dickinson is suggesting that to be part of a society is tedious and meaningless to her, which can also implies being a â€Å"nobody† is the contrary – interesting and meaningful. A further implication may be that being â€Å"nobody† allows her to write poetry – as it is not part of the â€Å"traditional role† of women at her time to write poetry, and instead women were expected to serve only their husbands. However, being a â€Å"nobody† in the society helps her to escape her role of being a â€Å"women†, granting her freedom instead. Hence we can see that poetry is meaningful to her. She also compares that to be â€Å"somebody† is like to be â€Å"public†, another indication that Dickinson likes isolation – which is proven correctly as one would learn that she locked herself in her house for the majority of her life. Dickinson uses a simile to compare â€Å"somebody† to a â€Å"frog† in line 6. This can be explained by the fact that â€Å"frogs† are considered noisy with the sound they generate. Combining with line 8, â€Å"To an admiring bog! †, it suggests the idea that frogs create noise to be noticed – but only by â€Å"an admiring bog†. A bog is the environment in which a frog dwells – this creates an irony. Emily Dickinson is suggesting that although being a â€Å"somebody† means being noticed by the public, but the public to â€Å"somebody† is like a bog to a frog – it is not really a relationship, or friendship, as no one would say that a bog is the friend of a frog. Also the word â€Å"admiring† creates a whole sense of sarcasm to the idea – and the technique of personification is used to describe the â€Å"bog† as well, perhaps to emphasize the sarcasm of the simile. Overall the poet suggests that to be â€Å"somebody† might mean to be well-known, accepted by the society; however the relationships are often shallow, distanced or impersonal. The rhyming of the words â€Å"frog† and â€Å"bog† also suggests a congenial relationship between â€Å"Somebody† and her targeted audience – conveying the idea that the poem is a direct criticism against the â€Å"somebody† – the general public. Through the use of contrast and irony between â€Å"Nobody† and â€Å"Somebody†, her strong will to be a â€Å"nobody† is shown, as well as her despise towards â€Å"somebody†. This poem reflects Emily Dickinson’s life and perhaps her more inner and cryptic feelings – it was probably written from the heart. She imprisoned herself for the most of her life, completely isolated from the rest of the world. This may contribute to the reason why she thinks being an â€Å"outsider† is better than being â€Å"somebody†, and that she does not value â€Å"friendship† in the same way as normal people do. However at the same time it was also proven in the poem – for instance she found another â€Å"nobody† in the first stanza – that she is not totally a recluse, and that she treasures the very few friendships she had.