Indonesian Gold (28 page)

‘Come on, Alex,' he cajoled, ‘you're supposed to be a
great negotiator. Give me something I can take back to the others.'

Kremenchug
placed his
briefcase on the table. ‘We don't want protracted negotiations, Scott. If you're not empowered to
settle this now, then I'm afraid we won't have a deal. My instructions are to move on if we can't
resolve this today.'

Walters' right foot started tapping the carpet; he knew
that Kremenchug's offer was a good deal but wanted to see how far the incoming investors would
go.

‘Okay,' Walters tried again, ‘how about we keep our
options, your investors pay us two hundred grand now, the deal still to remain off-market, and
three hundred in twelve months?'

‘No,' Kremenchug flatly refused. He placed his hand on the
briefcase. ‘Is that it, then?'

Fielding waited anxiously, hoping that Walters would
capitulate.

‘Look, Alex, you'll have to do better than a quarter of a
mill. My guys won't swallow that.'

Kremenchug
could smell
success. ‘All right, Scott, we'll give you two hundred thou once shareholder approval is in hand
and the restructure in place, and another one fifty, a year from now. You can

keep your options. You resign from the Board in favor of
me.'

‘What! Nothing up front?'

‘Okay then, Scott, I'll give you a hundred grand now, a
quarter of a million when the restructure is in place.'

Fielding's expression pained as soft flesh came away from
the inside of his mouth. ‘Sounds like a fair offer, to me, Scott. Come on, let's wrap it up and
get on with it.'

Walters' eyes locked with Kremenchug's, before drifting
across to the agitated President. ‘I'm not resigning,' Walters dug his heels in. ‘But, you can
have Phillips' seat,' he offered, referring to the absent director. Kremenchug had expected this.
Once the company had been restructured, he would have the financier replaced.

‘Okay, I can live with that,' he said, ‘when can you have
the paperwork ready?'

‘Friday noon,' Fielding was pleased with the outcome. He
had discussed settlement with Walters prior to Kremenchug's arrival for the Monday
meeting.

‘Fine, then there's nothing more for us to do except wait
for the lawyers to do their bit,' Kremenchug felt smug with the outcome. ‘You know where I'm
staying, if anything comes up.' There would be two hundred thousand of Sharon's money to play
with after he had paid Walters his deposit. He was in no way concerned that he would be required
to settle the balance, once BGC had acquired the Kalimantan lease.

The three men shook hands, Kremenchug then scurrying back
to his hotel to phone Sharon, to deliver the good news.

****

When the call came through, Sharon was at breakfast with
the General.

‘Congratulations, Alex, you've done well!' and in that
moment, her excitement began to build. ‘When will they be ready to sign?'

‘Friday,' he answered. ‘We need to give them the names of
your nominee company for the documentation. Are you ready?

‘Yes, Alex, I will fax the details to your hotel,
today.'

‘Great.' He paused. ‘Are you ready with the
funding?'

‘Of course,' Sharon replied, ‘they accepted the offer as
we discussed?'

‘Not exactly,' Kremenchug started to explain, Sharon
immediately feeling her stomach tighten, ‘but it's close enough. Walters insisted on remaining on
the Board, at least until BGC has been reorganized.'

‘It's manageable,' Sharon was relieved. ‘How long before
it's all settled?'

‘About nine months – getting the shareholders to respond
takes time, and nothing can be done until we have completed the drilling program to substantiate
the deposit's value.'

‘Are you going to Jakarta after finishing up
there?'

‘No. There's no need, at least, not until the Mines
Department signs off on the lease for your company. We'll need a letter of appointment for Eric
Baird to submit the documentation on your behalf. Why not send this today, along with details of
your offshore entity?'

‘Fine, I'll prepare something and have the directors in
Road Town execute the documents. You might not receive anything until tomorrow.'

Kremenchug
had never been to
the British Virgin Islands, but knew that Sharon referred to the BGC capital on Tortola, where
most of that country's financial institutions were located.

‘What is the company called, again?' unsure that she had
already mentioned this.

‘Dominion Mining Incorporated.'

‘You might want to have a loan agreement put into place as
well, to keep BGI afloat. Without it, they could very well go under.'

‘How much, Alex?' Sharon waited anxiously – concerned that
Kremenchug's original estimates would spill out of control.

‘Their holding costs are minimal – they have no field
activity. Apart from Fielding's salary, the company secretary and office expenses, I'd say that
another two hundred thousand would carry them through until the restructure is in
place.'

‘But there won't be any difficulties with the Securities
people?'

‘No, none,' he assured Sharon, ‘currently the stock is
trading at around five cents. There is likely to be some slight movement either way, particularly
if the Indonesian Mines Department makes too much of assuming some of the BGC acreage. Besides,
any funds we advance will be considered a loan until the stockholders vote. It's most unlikely
that they'd refuse the restructure as it's in their best interests.'

‘But the final shareholding will still give us effective
control?'

‘Absolutely – but to avoid Security Commission
interference, we have to keep our interests at arm's length.'

‘I don't see that being a problem. How long will it take
to finalize the Contract of Work with the Indonesians?' Sharon referred to the Kalimantan
prospect that her company would acquire.

‘I have confirmation from my man over there, Eric Baird,
that he's had the area frozen for us. But, we should get that application submitted in,' he
paused, ‘Dominion Mining's name as quickly as possible. I'll forward your nominee company's
details to Baird, so he can get the ball rolling with foreign investment applications,
etcetera.'

‘That's great, Alex. We are very pleased with the way
you've handled everything so far.' She peered back to where the General was sitting, and raised
one thumb in the air. ‘The General sends his regards.'

‘Thank you, Sharon, please send him mine as well. Okay,
then,' Kremenchug was now anxious to celebrate, ‘I'll wait for your fax.'

‘It will be there before lunch,' she promised, then hung
up, glided across to the General's side, and kissed him on the forehead. ‘He's done it!' she
laughed. ‘We're going to own a goldmine in Indonesia!' with which, she dragged General Dominguez
to his feet and hugged him with childish excitement.

As promised, before the day was out, Sharon sent
Kremenchug details of her shelf company, Dominion Mining Incorporated, and the authority for
Baird to make representations to the Indonesian Ministry for Energy and Mineral Resources.
Although her name did not appear on any of the corporate records, Sharon's power of attorney and
bearer's shares were sufficient to provide for her absolute control over the entity's dealings.
The following day, Kremenchug phoned Eric Baird in Jakarta, and warned him that a fax had been
sent to his office, containing all the details of the BVI company, which were to be used to file
a foreign investment application over the designated area. The Indonesian entity would be known
as P.T. Kalimantan Gold (Indonesia).

****

By Thursday that week, Baird had reconfirmed that most of
the Mahakam areas had been secured by multinational mining entities following the gold rush into
Kalimantan.

‘What about Longdamai?' Kremenchug asked.

‘It's about the only area left along the entire reach.
It's been overlooked as it still appears on the Mines Department books as being under contract.
Most of the allocation runs along the course of the river system there.'

‘Then we'll have to secure it,' Kremenchug
insisted.

Baird choked as the smoke went down the wrong way. ‘Why
bother?' another debilitating coughing spell ended with Baird out of breath. ‘That piece of dirt…
has nothing!' Then, as an afterthought he added, ‘There are more viable properties around in
other provinces. Why not offer your clients something in Sumatra?'

Kremenchug
was losing patience
with the geologist, ‘Longdamai's my first choice, Eric.'

Baird tried again to discourage Kremenchug. ‘I had a long
conversation with one of the guys down at Mines and he tells me that even the locals won't go
near it again.'

‘Look, Eric, just go and stitch Longdamai up for us. I'm
coming over next week to settle this with you. Okay?'

‘Settle… what?' Baird, losing the conversation flow,
flicked ash off the sheets.

‘For Chrissakes, Eric!' Kremenchug hissed down the line,
‘I'm talking about giving you a fifty grand in cash to keep Longdamai clear for me until we can
secure the area. Now, are you listening?'

Stunned, Baird fought a drug-induced cloud. ‘Fifty grand?'
Suddenly, he was alert and groped for the Evian water Mardidi always left on his side of the bed.
‘What do you need from… my side?' he burped into the mouthpiece, Kremenchug pulling the receiver
away from his own face, in disgust.

‘Get down to the Mines Department first thing tomorrow.
Send me confirmation that the area is still open; that no one has taken a CoW over the title,' he
demanded, referring to the official Contract of Work agreements which effectively allocated
control over Indonesian mining prospects.

‘Where… do you want me… to send it?'

‘To…' he hesitated, about to instruct Baird to send the
information to Vancouver, but decided against this. ‘I'll phone you back and let you
know.'

‘Okay. You know… where to reach me.' And then, ‘When do I
get my fifty grand?'

Kremenchug
ground his teeth.
‘You'll be paid when the deal is finalized. Do your bit, Eric, and you'll make an easy fifty
thou. There might even be a bonus if this works out. Okay?'

The conversation was then marked by a series of
chest-racking coughs. Finally, Baird confirmed. ‘Sure, I've got it Alex,' he managed to get out,
his breathing as heavy as any asthmatic, ‘but are you sure you really want… to run with
Longdamai?'

Kremenchug
suppressed his
immediate response; instead, he sat limply, prepared to let Baird ramble. ‘Why?' his voice
filtered down the line. ‘Is there something you know, that I should?'

Baird thought about this, but even in his alcohol cum
marijuana haze, he knew better than to mention it. ‘Nah,' he said, ‘but I don't… particularly
want to go back to…Kalimantan right now. If you need to have any work done there, you'll have to
find someone else.'

Kremenchug
was not
disappointed. This would remove the possibility of bad blood when the time came to announce
Sharon Ducay's appointment as Chief Geologist – assuming the Longdamai site
could
be
secured on behalf of Dominion Mining.

‘You're not holding out on me, Eric?'

Baird did not hesitate, having now recovered use of most
of his faculties. ‘Nothing that's important,' was all he said; then hung up.

****

Baird remained in bed, determined to make the best of the
interrupted mid-afternoon siesta opportunity. Kremenchug's conversation prevented him from
returning to sleep and, as he lay there, he recalled what had happened at the original Longdamai
site and was again revisited by the uneasiness that accompanied these thoughts.

He was intrigued by Kremenchug's insistence that they
apply for the Longdamai site. There were other opportunities in other Indonesian provinces and,
understanding how Kremenchug operated, he found the man's choice of Longdamai for his current
venture mystifying. Baird was aware that his associate gleaned information from a well-informed
circle of mining contacts, this thought raising the possibility that Kremenchug had accessed data
relating to Longdamai, that had yet to be made available to others. Baird considered this
possibility, finally drawing the conclusion that the entrepreneur was sitting on vital
information that had galvanized him into committing his own funds.

Of one thing Baird was certain – that Kremenchug had
offered to pay him fifty thousand dollars without being asked sent a clear signal that he knew a
great deal more about Longdamai than he was prepared to reveal. Baird was now convinced that
Kremenchug was, indeed, on to something. He would go to the Mines Department early the following
morning and initiate steps to secure the rights to the prospect. Then, he would wait for
Kremenchug's next move. One, he now felt confident, that would replenish his rapidly dwindling,
financial reserves.