Hey Bill something for you to read ehCanadian gold analyst John Ing says Indonesia is finally moving on from the Bre-X saga
When knowledgeable people consider Indonesia, Bre-X still springs to mind.
But 13 years after Bre-X Minerals Ltd.’s so-called Busang gold find was found to be a fraud, Canadian miners are tiptoeing back into Indonesia and picking up where some of their predecessors left off.
Veteran gold mining analyst John Ing says the renewed interest is the inevitable result of record high bullion prices, a scarcity of major deposits in other parts of world, and the changes which have occurred in Indonesia since Bre-X was holding the mining industry in thrall.
In an interview with Stockhouse, Ing said a more transparent mining law, which was introduced in 2009, has helped to restore confidence in a region that has long been known for its rich deposits of copper, gold and coal, but remains largely underexplored.
“That has made a big difference,’’ he said.
Analysts say the new law has convinced investors to forget about the Bre-X saga and focus on the merits of a particular project while gauging the ability of exploration companies to execute on their plans. “There is no carte blanche I’m not interested because it’s Indonesia,’’ said Jim Mustard, vice-president, investment banking, mining at PI Financial Corp. in Vancouver.
As President of Toronto-based investment dealer Maison Placements Canada Inc., and one of the country’s most fervent gold bugs, Ing has been around long enough to witness all of the major Canadian gold discoveries of the last three decades.