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The Visual Story Of The Biggest Fraud In Gold Mining History

This infographic documents the rise and fall of Bre-X.

From initial private offerings at 30 cents a share, Bre-X stock climbed to more than $250 on the open market. Near the peak of Bre-X share prices, major banks and media were on board:

The Peak

  • It was touted by media and banks as the “richest gold deposit ever”
  • In December 1996, Lehman Brothers Inc. strongly recommended a buy on “the gold discovery of the century.”
  • Major mining companies such as Barrick Gold, Placer Dome, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, among other top producers, fought an epic battle to get a piece of Bre-X’s Busang deposit.
  • Indonesia’s Suharto regime managed to grab 40% of the deposit for Indonesian interests.
  • Fidelity Investments, Invesco Funds Group, and other mutual-fund companies piled into the stock.
  • J.P. Morgan bankers talked up Busang in a conference call in which Bre-X’s top geologist predicted the deposit might contain a staggering 200 million oz of gold, worth over $240 billion in 2014 prices. Morgan declined to comment.
  • Egizio Bianchini, stock broker and one of Canada’s top gold analysts, said “What most people are now realizing is that Bre-X has made one of the great gold discoveries of our generation.”

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