kaplanFor most shareholders, owning stock in Gabriel Resources (GBU) - whose troubled Rosia Montana gold project is located in the same Transylvanian mountains that spawned Bram Stoker's Dracula - has been a scary proposition. Shares have dropped a frightening 90% from 2010-11 highs to the 80-cent level, below financial crisis levels, and they were hammered again last month when Romania's PM spoke out against the rich gold project. But one of Gabriel's largest shareholders - New York-based billionaire gold investor Thomas Kaplan - used the opportunity to increase his stake. On Sept. 10, a day after Gabriel shares plunged by more than 50%, Kaplan's Electrum Global Holdings LP bought another 100,000 shares at 61 cents in the public market. Gabriel Resources (GBU) (Click for higher resolution) Kaplan, an Oxford-trained historian, appears to be taking the long view on his gold investments; between the falling gold price and fierce opposition to Gabriel's flagship project, the recent past has not been kind. Kaplan, who got his start in the world of investing by researching Israeli U.S.-listed stocks while he completed his PhD, seems to have a knack for crossing paths with investment gurus. According to this Bloomberg BusinessWeek feature, he credits precious metals bull Marc Faber with his move into natural resources investing in 1993. Faber now sits on the board of NovaGold (NG), where Kaplan is chairman and the largest shareholder. Kaplan has been described as the "gold evangelist" for his affinity for the precious metal. "People view gold as emotional, but when the demythologize it, when they look at it for what it is and the opportunity it represents, they're going to say, 'We really should own some of that'," he told Bloomberg. "The question will then change to 'Where do we get the gold?' " His first venture, Apex Silver Mines, was backed by George Soros and developed the still-producing San Cristobal mine in Bolivia, as well as other Latin American properties. Kaplan became convinced that oil and gas prices would rise, and he turned his attention to using new technologies to search for natural gas fields in Texas. He founded Leor Energy, installed his nephew Guma Aguiar as the CEO, and set up a joint venture with EnCana and Goldman Sachs that identified and developed the rich Amoruso gas field in east Texas. In 2007, Kaplan sold Leor Energy to Encana for $2.55 billion. While the deal increased Kaplan's fortune dramatically, it also poisoned his relationship with son-in-law Aguiar (who received $200 million) and sparked legal battles with Kaplan's sister Ellen, Aguiar's mother, according to this Forbes piece. Aguiar disappeared last year off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after taking his 31-foot boat out into the Atlantic. Kaplan is chairman of the Electrum group of funds (parent company GRAT Holdings LLC) as well as other investment funds, such as the Tigris Financial Group - his family office - and Silver Opportunity Partners. Electrum Global Holdings' recent contrarian purchase of Gabriel shares came after Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta, a former supporter, reversed course and said the mine should not go ahead. Jonathan Henry, CEO of Gabriel, which has been attempting to obtain permits since the late 1990s, responded by threatening a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit if the project gets nixed. The Romanian PM subsequently reversed himself again, telling Reuters in late September that rejection "would be a catastrophe for Romania" because of the message it would send to the international business community. A parliamentary vote is expected in early November on the project, which would be Europe's largest gold mine. Rosia Montana, located in an area that has been mined for more than 2,000 years, has a measured and indicated resource estimated at 17 million ounces of gold. But the project is a political football, with opponents keying in on environmental concerns and organizing countrywide protests that have been attended by thousands. Gabriel has been attempting to obtain permits since the late 1990s, and CEO Jonathan Henry responded to the latest setback by threatening a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit if the projects gets nixed. Kaplan's Electrum Global Holdings LP owns 56,510,739 Gabriel shares, a 14.7% stake worth about $45 million. He's not the only American billionaire to have placed a large wager on the high-risk stock - hedge fund manager and gold bull John Paulson's fund owns 16% of shares and Seth Klarman's Baupost Group owns 13%, according to a September corporate presentation on Gabriel's website. And Gabriel isn't the only high-risk, high-resource gold play that Kaplan has in common with the U.S. hedge fund billionaires. Kaplan is chairman of Vancouver-based NovaGold as well as spinout NovaCopper (NCQ) and each company's largest shareholder. Electrum Strategic Resources LP owns 79,569,479 NovaGold shares, a 25% stake worth about $177 million. Electrum-affiliated GRAT Holdings LLC owns a further 5 million NovaGold shares. According to SEC filings, Paulson & Co. owned 35.8 million shares (11% of S.O.) as of June 30, and Klarman's Baupost owned 21.7 million shares (7%). NovaGold owns the Donlin gold deposit in Alaska and 50% of the Galore Creek gold project in northwestern B.C. (Teck owns the other 50%). The plan is to sell the Galore Creek stake to help finance the development of Donlin, which is in the permitting stage. With a measured and indicated resource estimated at 39 million ounces, Donlin is one of the world's largest undeveloped deposits. If it goes into production, Donlin would become 1 of only 6 mines to produce more than 1 million ounces of gold a year. While Kaplan hunts big game when it comes to undeveloped gold projects, he's squarely on the conservation side when it comes to big cats and snakes, his other passion. He has launched foundations to support habitat for big cats and Eastern Indigo snakes - Panthera and the Orianne Society (named for his daughter), respectively - and pumped $75 million into both causes in the past 5 years, as detailed in a new Forbes article headlined "Tom Kaplan: Billionaire King of Cats." Kaplan-affiliated funds also hold stakes in junior mining companies - most of them microcaps - exploring for niobium, zinc and other base metals. GRAT Holdings LLC, through Nio-Metals Holdings, owns 9,984,741 Niocan (NIO) shares, about 43% of S.O. The microcap is exploring for niobium, a steel alloy, in Quebec. Electrum Global Holdings LP owns about 16% of the outstanding shares of AsiaBaseMetals (ABZ), a zinc/base metals junior exploration company, and 25% of Tintina Resources (TAU), which is advancing a copper-cobalt-silver project in Montana. Electrum Gold Exploration LLC owns 27% of S.O. in Carlin Gold (CGD), which is exploring for gold in Nevada and Yukon. Electrum Strategic Acquisitions LLC is one of the major shareholders of Sunward Resources (SWD), which is exploring for precious metals in Colombia. The Electrum fund owns 18% of S.O. Electrum Global's Insider Holdings Shares Held % of Quoted Market Value NovaGold Resources (NG) 25.1 NovaCopper (NCQ) 25.0 Tintina Resources (TAU) 24.7 AsiaBaseMetals (ABZ) 16.3 Gabriel Resources (GBU) 14.7 Tags: Thomas Kaplan Gabriel Resources (GBU) Rosia Montana Electrum Marc Faber George Soros NovaGold (NG) NovaCopper(NCQ) John Paulson Seth Klarman Niocan (NIO) AsiaBaseMetals (ABZ) Tintina Resources (TAU) Carlin Gold (CGD) Sunward Resources (SWD)