Yikes. lol.
Interest by Kavanagh and Barrick
It was during these early days of getting exploration in place that
Bre-X's presence in Indonesia attracted the attention of at least one major
player. Paul Kavanagh, head of exploration for Barrick Gold Corp. of
Toronto, held a breakfast meeting August 20, 1993 with David Walsh and
Felderhof and became attracted to the project. His impression of Felderhof
was positive. (See: Memorandum - Kavanagh, October 28, 1993, Volume 5, Tab
13, Page 1297)
Kavanagh said his interest in Bre-X was sparked by a July 1993 article
in The Northern Miner.
"I just happened to notice on the right hand side a little account of
recording some assay results of surface samples that had been taken by this
little Bre-X company operating in Indonesia. Those results caught my eye
and without any further ado I phoned up the Bre-X office and spoke to David
Walsh. He said they were not interested in that time in having any
association with a major company. So I left him my name and who I was and
said 'well if you ever change your mind please remember my phone call.'"
Kavanagh recalled that a week later the phone rang. It was David
Walsh and he said Bre-X would be interested in having Barrick involved.
(See: interview - Paul Kavanagh, September 2, 1997; Volume 2, Tab 13, Page
408)
Kavanagh and Barrick colleague Larry Kornze visited Busang in the
middle of October 1993. Kavanagh was about the retire from Barrick so he
turned the file over to someone else. He then formed Kavanagh Geological
Consulting Inc. in Toronto and became involved with Bre-X, becoming an
independent director early in 1994.
His October 28, 1993 report to Allan Hill, his superior at Barrick,
told of de Guzman's Rim of Fire theory and noted:
"The best available evidence of good mineralization are the following
results of ]4 trenches (now completely caved in) put in several years ago
by the Australian company from which Bre-X has acquired an 80% interest in
the property... "
He listed the 14 trench results, then noted that Bre-X had started an
initial 6-8 hole diamond drilling program totalling 1,000 metres, "the
objective being to indicate a deposit having an estimated open-pittable
reserve of 22 million tonnes grading better that 0.06 ounces per tonne."
(See: Memorandum - Kavanagh, October 28, 1993: Volume 5, Tab 13, Page
1297)
Conclusions reached by Kavanagh and Kornze during the Busang visit
included:
"1. We acknowledge that the Pacific Rim of Fire geological sector of
the world is a proven, very attractive milieu in which to explore for gold
and copper-gold deposits. The largest land portion of that sector is
Indonesia, a country with an overall breadth equal to that of the
continental United States. Important gold and copper deposits can occur
throughout the entire breadth of the country.
2. Indonesia is relatively unexplored, mainly because of its
third-world status and extensive rain-forest cover.
3. Bre-X has an excellent, motivated exploration team, very
experienced in Indonesia, with a successful past record there.
4. With meagre funding, Bre-X has already acquired, during only a few
months, three exciting properties in Indonesia.
We strongly recommend that Barrick undertakes exploration in the
Pacific Rim of Fire, and that it does so in Indonesia and possibly
subsequently in the Philippines, through an involvement with Bre-X
Minerals."