Oh for the hysteria and the madness of the crowds!

He who can manipulate this kind of hysteria is King of the Hill.

                                                                                                                                  Bay Street broker

 

Bre-X The Motherlode of All Time

 

BRE-X tells the story of the dramatic, intriguing and meteoric rise and fall of the worlds largest gold mining play, and has as its central character an untreated alcoholic who pulled off one of the biggest scams in the history of stock trading, fooling everyone, including himself. 

 

When David Walsh, a small time promoter, meets John Felderhof, a geologist with a passion for gold and collapsed volcanos in far-off Indonesia, he is cynical about the possibility of discovering gold in Busang but he can see an exotic and believable prospect to promote  his failing company, BRE-X.

 

Despite a track record of bankruptcies, Davis successfully hypes the shares, often working the phones froma bar in downtown Calgary. Over the next three years, BRE-X rises from 30 cents to $289. Supported by major brokerage houses, BRE-X trades at volumes that cripple stock exchanges, sometimes bringing them to a standstill. And David, originally a skeptic, comes to believe he has the mother lode of all time, standing tall behind a claim that there is more gold in Busang than all other mines in the world put together.  And the world wants to believe him.

 

When a press leak claims that BRE-X has inadequate rights in Busang, panic reigns. Giants Freeport McMoRan and Barrick Gold race to Jakarta to bring pressure on the Suharto family to try to gain control of the mine. David, a victim of his own delusions, believes there's a conspiracy to defraud him. And then, inexplicably, a BRE-X geologist falls out of a helicopter in Indonesia a few days after being named "Prospector of the Year". Then this simple heist story takes on the dimensions of a thriller. 

 

Produced in association with Anaid Productions and Principia Productions from the book, "Fever: The Dark Mystery of the Bre-X Gold Rush" by Jennifer Wells.

Screenplay by Richard Craven and Angus Fraser

 

 

From the outset this was a very encouraging project. More of a page-turner than the vast majority of things I am asked to consult on. Not a difficult read at all, with an underlying subject matter that is really hip. This story is an apt metaphor for the world we live in.

Robert McKee