Once lauded by investors and the darling of the mining sector, Bre-X Minerals of Calgary was later the subject of the largest stock swindle in Canadian history. Born of obscurity, the company quickly rose to great heights before crashing back down and doing so spectacularly. Kaboom!
Billions vanished in one of the most brazen frauds ever perpetrated on the general public.
By world standards of scamming today, however, they’re perhaps rank amateurs, but here and in 1997 it was a big deal. The deception was nothing short of obvious right out of the gate. Well, except for those caught up in the excitement or blinded by the promise of riches and these folks never saw it coming.
Bre-X Minerals Calgary: a retrospective. Sharing silly memories with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)
Thanks to “Dale” for sponsoring this and many other posts at BIGDoer.com. Be like Dale…
For the nitty-gritty details of how it all came down we suggest a little online or book reading for more info. We’re just not writers of that calibre – or of any calibre and can’t go that far in depth on the subject. Brief pop-history is all we do. We just wanted to share a personal, albeit brief memory of the company and reminisce. Look into Bre-X Minerals and you’ll be on your way down a deep, deep rabbit hole.
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It’s fascinating story of a well crafted scheme and even though outrageously unbelievable, it convinced a lot of people to jump in with both feet. If you say it enough times it’s true and is all the more believable if a few others join in. Then it snowballs out of control and even otherwise sane people, or tight-fisted conservative types, soon found themselves caught up in the madness.
In the 1990s the company blatantly falsified reports and sloppily tampered with drill samples, turning what was actually (mostly) barren ground, in Indonesia, into the greatest gold find of the century. It was unprecedented on all levels and and everyone fell for it. Even when it came into question by experts, many folks chose denial and remained true believers. To the bitter end and bitter it was.
At the peak the stock price soared from penny levels to over $280.00. They had a total capitalization of over $6 billion and it looked like they had room to grow even more. The Bre-X scheme collapsed after the gold samples were found to be fraudulent. They salted samples with alluvial gold and jewellery shavings.
The unassuming office block seen here was home to the company’s headquarters and big gold coloured Bre-X signs once adorned the exterior, up there on the space above the top floor. We’re on 14th Street Northwest, just a little north of Kensington Road. It’s a busy stretch and no doubt lots of people saw the sign.
Our photo was captured during a rare quiet moment in traffic.
Chris here and I was driving a construction and oilfield delivery truck back then and by coincidence was stuck in traffic, in front of this very building, as a chapter in the Bre-X saga played out. Right at the door there on the left. There were many tremors leading up to this day, but the news that samples were fraudulent just received wide coverage and this brought out the masses. Right about the time I showed up.
It’s May 1997 and history happened right here.
With the breaking news, the area became busy with angry shareholders who on losing it all, were looking for answers. Reporters were on the scene to document it all and soon after the police arrived to keep order. There was shouting in the streets, people running about crazily and general mayhem. Someone called in a bomb threat.
A circus comes to mind.
As a result of the chaos, traffic on 14th came to a grinding halt. It happened in real time and was coming to a head just a few vehicles, including mine, arrived. By the time anyone could act, they were already committed and stuck in the mess. Guess none of us saw it coming…
There’s yours truly right outside and for the short while I had a front row seat to the action. It was only ten or fifteen minutes, but there was so much crazy that time stood still. The crowd pulsated with faces of anger and despair.
Order came quickly out on the street and everyone soon moved to the doors out front or adjoining sidewalks. Traffic started rolling again and it really didn’t impact any deliveries, but it did make for good conversation back at the office later. I shared some highlights over the radio as they happened, just in case the dispatcher questioned why a certain truck was not moving.
It was over and done quickly, for this person anyway, but the memory stuck. For those who lost it all in the melee, I bet it haunts them every single day. Even now, some 28 years later.
Being an intimate witness to something so newsworthy and having it happen completely by chance, is kind of wild. It’s another strange happenstance – nothing world moving or anything – but a window into something really interesting. Who doesn’t love the phycology of a good scam? It was seen up close and had the timing been a bit different, we wouldn’t be sharing this post. This thought keeps coming back: it seems deceiving people is easy.
What brought on this post, since it’s a little different from the norm here? While driving past the building recently, as we’ve done a million times, we got stuck in traffic right out front in the very same spot. The memories of that day came rushing back. There was nothing odd going on and it was just heavy volumes, but we didn’t see it coming I suppose…
“Chris and Connie have a unique way of documenting the places they visit, not copying the style or technique of others, but making it their own.” Alex Craig, Filmmaker.
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