Gold (34 page)

Mark Nathanson was the son of a wholesale grocer
:
I relied largely on Larry Phillips for my account of Nathanson, with a few details from Jean Kaisin. See also Kenneth Gooding, “Sadiola–Nathanson's luckiest strike,”
Financial Times,
February 9, 1996. The Nathanson Centre has a biographical note at
http://nathanson.osgoode.yorku.ca/about/founding-benefactor/
;
http://www.iamgold.com/english/corporate/iamgold-milestones/default.aspx
.

Treasure hunters have searched for a fabulous city called Ophir for thousands of years
:
Marx,
The Magic of Gold,
18.

C
HAPTER
12: K
IBALI

The Lord's Resistance Army
:
“Hundreds More Flee Continuing LRA Attacks in North-East Congo,” UNHCR, March 30, 2012,
http://www.unhcr.org/4f75a5589.html
. This account demonstrates that one year after our visit the killing was still going on.

Australian prospectors had discovered the gold in 1903
:
See for example Brandon Prosansky, “Mining Gold in a Conflict Zone: The Context, Ramifications, and Lessons of AngloGold Ashanti's Activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,”
Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights
(Northwestern University School of Law) 5, no. 2 (Spring 2007): 236–74,
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/jihr/v5/n2/4/Prosansky.pdf
.

A bloodbath followed
:
Ian Fisher and Norimitsu Onishi, “Chaos in Congo: A Primer. Many Armies Ravage Rich Land in the ‘First World War' of Africa,”
New York Times,
February 6, 2000,
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/06/world/chaos-congo-primer-many-armies-ravage-rich-land-first-world-war-africa.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
.

In August 1998 Ugandan soldiers occupied the goldfield
:
Anneke van Woudenberg,
The Curse of Gold,
Human Rights Watch, 2005, 15–18,
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/drc0505.pdf
.

Then their captors roped them together
:
Christopher Rhoads, “Peacekeepers at War,”
Wall Street Journal,
June 23, 2012,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303836404577476460542151978.html
.

Similarly, failed pumps meant that miners had to wade for miles
:
Van Woudenberg,
The Curse of Gold,
54.

The Ugandans took $9 million worth of gold
:
Ibid., 15.

Their successors did even better
:
Ibid., 55.

Sir Sam Jonah was a celebrated gold miner
:
See for example “Sam Jonah: The Man with the Golden Touch,”
Sun
(Lagos, Nigeria), April 13, 2013,
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/specials/aspire/sam-jonah-the-man-with-the-golden-touch/
; executive profile at
Bloomberg Businessweek,
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=372443&privcapId=35042515
; Simon Robinson, “Sam Jonah: AngloGold Ashanti,”
Time,
December 17, 2004,
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,100 9745,00.html
;
http://www.anglogold.com/Additional/Press/Ashanti/2003/Ashanti+Chief+Executive+Sam+Jonah+Knighted.htm
; “Sam Jonah Moves to Non-Executive Board Position at AngloGold Ashanti,”
http://www.anglogold.com/additional/press/2005/sam+jonah+moves+to+non-executive+board+position+at+anglo gold+ashanti.htm
.

He had taken Ashanti into Kilo-Moto nine years earlier
:
Van Woudenberg,
The Curse of Gold,
60.

AngloGold funded one such trip
:
Ibid., 61.

The company said it had only paid $8,000 out of petty cash
:
“AngloGold Ashanti's Activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” statement from company, 6,
http://www.anglogoldashanti.co.za/NR/rdonlyres/ECBCA20E-5B45-4625-B4E7-B8517F369043/0/AGA_and_the_DRC.pdf
.

But Toronto is the world's leading gold-mine city
:
http://www.tmx.com/en/listings/sector_profiles/mining.html
.

Regardless of its size, Moto was the cat's paw of important interests
:
Barry Sergeant, “Inside Moto Gold Mines,”
Mineweb
, April 1, 2007,
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-historical-daily-news?oid=18928&sn=Detail
.

With its joint venture partner, AngloGold Ashanti, Randgold took a run at Moto
:
See for example William MacNamara, “Randgold in $300m Placing for Expansion,”
Financial Times
, July 29, 2009,
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e4a66744-7bd6-11de-9772-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2OTZpnjSf
;
Susan Kirwin, “Randgold Outbids Red Back for Moto Goldmines,”
Northern Miner,
July 27, 2009,
http://www.northernminer.com/issuesV2/VerifyLogin.aspx
.

Bristow worked on his counterbid
:
All from Mark Bristow and Grant Bristow, interviews with author.

Red Back's Lukas Lundin
:
Eduard Gismatullin, “Billionaire Swedes See Lundin Jump After Matching Apple: Energy,”
Bloomberg,
May 28, 2013,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-27/billionaire-swedes-see-lundin-jump-after-matching-apple-energy.html
.

He had sold the Mauritanian property
:
“Canada's Kinross to Buy Red Back for $7.1 Billion,”
New York Times,
August 2, 2010,
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/canadas-kinross-to-buy-red-back-for-7-1-billion/
.

Tye Burt
:
Interview with author; for figures on possible reserves of Tasiast, and advancement of Kinross in rank of producers, see for example Stephen Grocer, “Deal Profile: Kinross to Acquire Red Back Mining,”
Wall Street Journal,
August 3, 2010,
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/08/03/deal-profile-kinross-to-acquire-red-back-mining/
.

Kinross fired Burt
:
Liezel Hill, “Kinross Gold Fires CEO Tye Burt, Replaces with Rollinson,”
Bloomberg,
August 2, 2012,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/kinross-gold-fires-ceo-tye-burt-replacing-him-with-rollinson.html
; Liezel Hill, “Kinross Gold Takes $3.1 Billion Writedown on Tasiast Mine,”
Bloomberg,
February 14, 2013,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-13/kinross-gold-takes-3-1-billion-writedown-on-tasiast-mine.html
.

Its soldiers come from countries
:
Rhoads, “Peacekeepers at War.”

Because the United States' Dodd-Frank Act
:
Edward Wyatt, “Use of ‘Conflict Minerals' Gets More Scrutiny from U.S.,”
New York Times,
March 19, 2012,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/business/use-of-conflict-minerals-gets-more-scrutiny.html?pagewanted=all
.

A human rights group calculated
:
Gouby, “Gold Now Top Conflict Mineral in Congo,” Associated Press, October 25, 2012.

In eastern Congo, a war that has already killed 3 million people
:
Jeffrey Gettelman, “Troops Mass in Fought-Over City, Raising Fear of New Violence in Congo,”
New York Times,
December 16, 2012,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/world/africa/troops-mass-in-fought-over-city-raising-fear-of-new-violence-in-congo.html
; 3 million dead: van Woudenberg, 12.

Randgold priced its reserves
:
http://www.randgoldresources.com/randgold/content/en/randgold-kibali-project
. See second footnote to table.

It's not clear that our distant ancestors
:
Interview with Ben Roberts, at the time, curator of the European Bronze Age collections at the British Museum, London, and now on the faculty of Durham University.

One theory about the super-rich
:
Chrystia Freeland, “The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent,”
New York Times,
October 13, 2012,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/opinion/sunday/the-self-destruction-of-the-1-percent.html?pagewanted=all
.

Aachen,
8

ABC News,
159

accidents, mining,
4
,
196
,
202
,
217
–18

adventure books,
187
–88,
201

Afghanistan,
209

Africa,
187
–213

gold empires of,
188
–95,
199
–200

see also specific countries

agriculture,
50
,
52
,
53
,
82

air exploration,
205

“Alinement of Mining Districts in North Central Nevada” (Roberts),
86
–87,
90
–91

amalgamation, mercury-gold,
146

American River,
47

Anasazi people,
78

ancestors, gifts for,
30

Andes,
27
–30

AngloGold Ashanti,
6
,
219
,
220
,
222

AngloGold Limited,
219

Antler range,
80
–81

Apple Inc.,
223

Argentina,
50

art,
183
–84

artisanal mining,
217
,
225

Asantehene,
190
,
191
,
193
,
194

Ashanti Goldfields,
219

Ashanti state,
189
–95

assay, assayers,
84
,
89
,
91
,
92
,
132
,
175

Associated Press,
96

Atahualpa,
31
–40

aloofness of,
32

ambush of,
34
–35

arrival in Cajamarca of,
33
–34

divinity of,
37
–38

gold offered by,
36
–37

murder of,
39
–40

as prisoner,
35
–39

Aurora Empowerment Systems,
11
,
12

Aurora gold mine,
11
–18

illegal miners and theft in,
11
–18

pillars in,
13
,
14

shooting in,
15
,
17

Auschwitz,
99

Australia, Australians,
99
–100,
138
,
196
,
204
,
217

autoclaves,
109
,
111

Awa Ba,
197
–98

Aztec,
26
–27,
41

bacteria,
7
,
109

Baia Mare,
196

Balboa, Vasco Núñez de,
27

Baltimore Sun,
67

Bamberger, Ludwig,
49

Bank for International Settlements (BIS),
175
–80

banking, banks,
9
,
42
–43,
82
,
173

Barrick and,
104
,
112

capital requirements of,
160
,
179

central,
see
central banks

criminal activities of,
228

crises in,
2
,
50
,
114
,
160
,
162
,
179
,
227

European regulation of,
154
,
159
–63,
177

forward selling and,
113

gold price fixing and,
169
–71

gold standard and,
44
,
45
,
49
–56,
58
,
59
,
63

gold trade and,
153
–54

Bank of England,
45
,
49
,
57
,
70

Bank of France,
49
,
69

Bank of Nova Scotia,
169

Baotou,
138
,
140

Barberton mine,
20

Barclays Capital,
169
–70

Baring family,
52

Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick Resources),
99
–100,
102
–14,
217

Camflo Mine and,
103
–4

founding of,
102

gold prices and,
105
,
111
–14,
163
,
164
–65

Goldstrike and,
106
–7,
109
–12

Mercur mine and,
104
–6,
109

on uses of gold,
185
–86

Basel,
10
,
175
,
177

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision,
160
,
163

Bathily, Moussa,
213

Beck, Glenn,
158

Beijing,
134
,
135

Belgium,
58
,
64
,
217

Belmont, August, Jr.,
53

Berlin,
50

Bernanke, Ben,
75
,
175

Bernstein, Peter,
23
,
215

Bida (seven-headed snake),
189

Big Brother
(TV show), South African version of,
11

bills of exchange,
43

bimetallic system,
45
,
49
,
50

Bishop, Harry,
91

“Blackberry riots,”
9

Blake, William,
1