TORONTO - It’s the scandal that continues to capture the imagination, nearly 20 years after it was proven to be a fraud.
So it was hardly surprising to hear talk of the Bre-X gold scandal during this weeks’ annual Prospectors and Developers Conference in Toronto.
Down in the conference trade show area, Stefan Muchal was telling delegates and geology types that he is working to finance a movie about the infamous scandal.
“It’s a very exciting story,’’ said Muchal, who works as a financial analyst with Gravitas Financial Inc. in Toronto.
He said it will feature an A-list cast and will be directed by Scott Rosenfelt, whose credits include producer of Home Alone.
The Bre-X movie will retell the story of how a small-time Calgary stock promoter named David Walsh, became involved with a mining project in Indonesia that was supposed to be one of the world’s largest gold projects, but actually turned out to be a salting scam.
It will feature the key characters in the story, including Mike de Guzman the Indonesian geologist who committed suicide by jumping out of a helicopter, and John Felderhof, the geologist who continues to live in the Philippines with a newly adopted family.
“It’s going to be a huge success,’’ said Muchal.
“There are movies that were made before that don’t have as much action and intrigue.”
Perhaps the story continues to resonate today because the discovery in 1997 that Bre-X was actually a fraud helped to send the gold mining sector into a tailspin that is similar to the one that parts of the industry is seemingly locked in today.
Muchal was unable to say who will play the leading roles. Until that has been established the production team will be unable to say exactly what the movie about Bre-X will cost.
“The story speaks for itself. So we are trying to keep as close as possible to what actually happened,’’ he said.
As a former financial newspaper reporter who covered the story from start to finish, I can well remember the excitement at the 1996 Prospectors and Developers convention in Toronto when Bre-X announced that it was supposedly sitting on 200 million ounces of gold in Indonesia.
Muchal said his involvement stems from his friendship with Ron Thomson, who is the Bre-X movie’s executive producer.
“I took him to meet some of the people who were involved,” he said.