Yes, I realised that between posts 4,000 and 5,000. I also realised then that Bre-X was 90% likely to be a scam (the other 10% was that it was a incompetent stuff up). I had a big holding in the Australian company which was involved with Merukh - I was suckered for 2 or three weeks (I got so excited that I went in heavily without doing proper research - this is the first time (for about 20 years that is!) that I have acted like that, so I can understand why people were suckered. I did post a couple of very cautious statements pointing out that there were inconsistencies in the Bre-X story but I got roundly abused so I went quiet (I realise now that there is a certain amount of bravery involved in standing up against flaming - I hadn't quite comprehended that before; Still, when you quite learning you are dead). I did however pass on my concerns to a couple of Australian mining executives, and some geologists in Indonesia - but I didn't ask for, or certainly want, any feedback from them. They did take it seriously.
What I would like to see is for this thread, and some others, to concentrate on a close analysis of how the whole Bre-X thing happened. Most decent people (I'm sounding like Nelson Bunker Hunt here) should realise that we (investors - decent folk) will do better, and society at large will do better, if the scam artists are identified and removed - and if the various subtle (and often not so subtle) clues that can help to identify scams before they get far advanced, are brought to the attention of a wider audience. In intelligence work (which is what investigating Bre-X is) it is often necessary to draw up a detailed "profit and loss" chart to detect the really artful dodgers. I firmly believe that many big players; stockbrokers, large investors,analysts (particularly), and people close to Bre-X etc. ,while they weren't involved in the scam, realised at some stage and used this to their advantage - and that isn't cricket old man. I hope the Red Coats (are the RMCP still red coats?) get the lot of them.
Oh, I found most of the incriminating evidence on this thread and at the Bre-X site! What truely staggered me is that at the time the information was posted, by Bre-X threaders and by Bre-X themselves, nobody paid any attention. The devil was in the detail. |
