A Canadian mining company's claim that it had discovered a huge deposit of gold, deep in the Indonesian jungle, led to a scramble to invest in the firm. But all that glittered was not gold, as a new podcast series reveals, and questions remain about the mysterious death of the company's chief geologist.WARNING: This article contains references to suicide and graphic content.
Ten years later, Canadian journalist Suzanne Wilton was sent by the Calgary Herald to investigate de Guzman's death.The Six Billion Dollar Gold ScamJournalist Suzanne Wilton visited de Guzman's tomb in Manila in the Philippines. With only a couple of days to go before the final deadline, and two holes dug, there was still no sign of gold. Then, says Wilton, de Guzman suddenly told Walsh he knew the precise spot they needed to drill — the location had come to him in a dream.
Many people in Canadian small towns joined the gold rush, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars of their savings.The remote Bre-X Minerals site was in Busang, in the province of East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. John Felderhof, a vice-president at Bre-X Minerals, was said to have had a charismatic personality. She says de Guzman spent his last evening in Indonesia in the city of Balikpapan, more than 160 kilometres south of the Busang mine, with Bre-X Minerals employee Rudy Vega.
After having given an initial statement to police at the time, the pilot has rarely spoken about the trip. But, says Wilton, he has denied any involvement in what happened to de Guzman and has maintained he did not see what happened.Handwritten suicide notes were found in the helicopter and, four days later, a body was recovered in the vast jungle.Six weeks afer de Guzman's death, the Busang gold dream was over for everyone, leaving investors in despair.
"When he was dead, he must have been thrown out of the chopper in the jungle to make it appear he committed suicide," Molino said.