Bre-X Jakarta staff puts photocopiers into overdrive
Workers mum as drilling reports, memos duplicated
Saturday, May 3, 1997
By Paul Waldie
The Globe and Mail
The office of Bre-X Minerals Ltd. was empty here yesterday, except for a group of young workers feverishly
photocopying stacks of company records.
Bre-X is supposed to receive the first report of an audit from Strathcona Mineral Service Ltd. this weekend that could
establish just how much, if any, gold there is in the company's famous Busang deposit.
The mood at the company's Jakarta office was far from excitement as workers went about photocopying. "We were told
to copy all of the drilling results," said one young man wearing clear plastic gloves and sitting at a table piled with memos
and reports.
When asked who the man was working for, he replied: "The client, Price Waterhouse." He would not elaborate on the
firm's involvement with Bre-X.
In North America, neither Bre-X nor management consultants Price Waterhouse would comment about the
photocopying going on in Bre-X's offices in Indonesia.
At least six people were working two photocopying machines in the main area of the small office in a nondescript
downtown high-rise building. Another photocopier was running steady in a small room nearby that was also piled with
documents.
Most of the documents appeared to be memos and drilling reports, some dating back to 1994.
But the stacks also contained dozens of trivial memos, including some about travel plans and one acknowledging receipt
of a job application. None of Bre-X's senior Indonesian managers were in the office.
In fact, the only Bre-X employee to be found was Bernhard Leode, the financial controller. Mr. Leode said Bre-X's
vice-chairman John Felderhof, who is usually based in Jakarta, was at the head office in Calgary.
Gregory MacDonald, the commercial manager, was in Perth, Australia, he said. Mr. Leode declined to explain the
reason for the photocopying. However, he said he was feeling confident that the Strathcona audit report will verify
Bre-X's estimate that Busang has at least 71 million ounces of gold.
"It might say that we have more," he added, with a laugh.
Mr. Leode said he likely wouldn't receive a copy of the Strathcona report until Monday. "They will send it to us, but
probably after they send out a press release."
There were also said to be no Bre-X officials at the company's site at Busang, in the jungle of East Kalimantan province
on the island of Borneo. "There is no one there," said a radio operator in Samarinda, who sends messages to the camp.
Most of the senior site workers, including Rudy Vega and Jerry Alo, are on leave, she said.
One of Bre-X's local partners in Busang, Gerry Mbatemooy, doubts the company's estimate will hold up. "I personally
believe that in all of Busang there are 15 million ounces of gold," said Mr. Mbatemooy, who owns part of an Indonesian
company, PT Sungai Atan Perdana, that is a partner with Bre-X in Busang.
Mr. Mbatemooy said he has received no information about the Strathcona report.
Officials at other mining companies in Jakarta are also eagerly awaiting the news because many of their projects are tied
to the fate of Busang.
"There were a whole bunch of geologists in here yesterday," said Ranjeet Sunder of Indo-Gold, a Canadian exploration
company. "Everyone believes there is gold there. But the estimates range from one million ounces to 17 million."
Mr. Sunder said he still expects many companies to leave Indonesia because of the Bre-X fiasco regardless of how much
gold is eventually verified at Busang.
"It will happen. People will pull out no matter what happens," he said, noting that many companies came to Indonesia to
take advantage of the hype surrounding Bre-X. Those that stay, he said, will be the serious mining companies. |
