Indonesian Gold (52 page)

‘Are you absolutely sure?'
Sukirno was staggered to the point of disbelief, the numbers Subroto had thrown around
beyond comprehension.

‘One hundred percent,'
Subroto confirmed, his chubby fingers extended in the air,
‘I have confirmed the
information with my man in the field.'

‘It sounds…'
the army
officer paused, selecting his words,
‘…almost too good to be true?'

Subroto snorted.
‘The first results were similar. They
have deliberately kept the information from the government.'

Sukirno considered the accusation, an opportunity
immediately leaping to mind.
‘Do you have a full transcript of the
conversations?'

Eric Baird's overweight partner moved uncomfortably in his
seat.
‘No.We had no idea that they were going to discuss the assay results.'

The other man showed his disappointment.
‘Pity. We could
have used it.'
He looked down at scribbled notes, unable to comprehend the number of zeros
running across his notepad.
‘There has to be some mistake, Mas,'
he said, punching blunt,
but well-manicured fingers at a desktop calculator.
‘According to your information, there's
more gold in the Longdamai deposit than what they're projecting from the Freeport Grassberg
mine.'

‘Mas ‘Kirno,'
Subroto
looked pained,
‘if it wasn't for the fact that my niece's husband confirmed the information, I
wouldn't have believed it either. I have known this man for more than ten years. He's greedy, but
not stupid. If you're not sure, why not send someone out there to confirm the
find?'

General Sukirno concurred.
‘Perhaps it is time the
Mines Department visited some of the Kalimantan operations. Better still, as the government has a
vested interest in these ventures what better way to demonstrate our support than by offering
some of our own expertise to be positioned on site?'

Subroto smiled at his fellow officer's cunning.
‘The
foreign operators couldn't refuse.'

‘And why should they?'
Sukirno challenged,
‘after all, aren't we the hosts in this game?'

Subroto nodded his concurrence.

****

Eric Baird's senior associate departed, leaving the
powerful General Sukirno alone, deep in thought. Sukirno had been charged with laying the
foundations for official seizure of any significant finds, then orchestrating for these assets to
be shifted to Palace interests. He called for the file on P. T. Kalimantan Gold's arrangements
with the Mines and Energy Ministry and, within the hour, the documents were hand-delivered to his
office. The information revealed that P.T. Kalimantan Gold had been granted a preliminary survey
permit for the Longdamai area but, as yet, had not finalized an exploitation
agreement.

New protocols to facilitate the government increasing its
position in all mineral resource ventures were imminent, and as head of the Parliamentary
Committees for both Mining and Forestry, the General would also benefit, financially, from such
acquisitions. Confident that P. T. Kalimantan Gold foreign partners would realize that they would
have little choice but to accept the revised provisions, once these were announced, Sukirno wrote
a memo to the Director General of Mines and Energy, outlining what action was required with
respect to ownership of the Kalimantan operations.

Satisfied that the question of control would be resolved
without difficulty, General Sukirno then turned his attention to organizing for government
personnel to be assigned to the Longdamai operations. He composed another memo with copies to all
relevant Ministers, noting that the
Golkar
parliamentary faction deplored the current
levels of environmental damage caused by foreign contractor's operating in Kalimantan, and
proposed that government inspectors be placed on location to monitor their activities. Sukirno
then phoned the Minister for Mines and Energy directly, to prepare the way for his next
move.

****

When word spread that their Minister wished to assemble a
specialist team to monitor mining activities in deepest Kalimantan, within days, the ranks of
those qualified for such positions thinned dramatically. As the majority of government officials
were Javanese, and all had read the government-censored memorandums revealing the true extent of
covert, Dayak ethnic violence, the department was inundated with requests for leave – even
reassignment. A highly confidential recommendation was presented to the departmental head,
suggesting that this would be an ideal opportunity to remove the high-profile Dayak spokeswoman
from further media attention, and the wheels of injustice spun into motion.

On the Ninth of May 1996, Angela Dau was selected to lead
the mission, and instructed to proceed immediately to the Longdamai Sial site as the government
representative to monitor P. T. Kalimantan Gold activities in the area.

****

Vancouver

Christopher Fielding's hands continued to tremble with
excitement as he reached for the whiskey-filled tumbler, emptying the contents with one swallow.
He searched for another bottle, breaking into an alcohol-induced smile with the realization that
he had demolished a fifth of Scotch, alone, in quiet celebration, and in less than an
hour.

Rising to unsteady feet, Fielding struggled to gather his
thoughts, his hands searching amongst the reams of reports and notes scattered across the desk
for the Longdamai Sial projections. Identifying the papers, he placed these carefully aside, then
leaned across and with one arm brushed everything else to the floor, the effort causing him to
sway drunkenly, and fall heavily to the carpet.

Fielding lay on his back with the ceiling spinning
overhead, aware that he had missed both lunch and dinner, this oversight mainly the cause for his
current predicament. He rose slowly to his feet and, unfazed by his condition, picked up the file
containing the most recent drilling and laboratory analysis reports, straightened his glasses
then reached for the phone and dialed Kremenchug's number.

‘It's confirmed,' Fielding's succinct message was
deliberate; he knew that his associate had been waiting for this call.

‘Are you absolutely sure?' At the other end, Kremenchug
twitched nervously.

‘Ab…so…lute…ly!' Fielding replied,
emphatically.

‘What's your final estimate?' Kremenchug was anxious to
learn.

‘Well, even if we halved the estimates,' Fielding's
celebratory mood was evident in his slurred voice, ‘we would have one, if not
the
richest
find in history!'

‘What's the figure?' Kremenchug asked,
impatiently.

‘Conservatively?' Fielding leaned forward and focused hazy
eyes on his notes. ‘More than twenty million ounces.'

In his semi-drunken state Fielding waited for Kremenchug's
staggered response to the figures as he digested the extent of the claim, which, based on current
gold prices, valued the Longdamai Sial deposit at around six billion dollars. What the BGC
president did not know, was that Kremenchug had expected the estimates to come in well under a
tenth of that. Kremenchug regained his ability to speak, with a flood of unprepared questions.
‘When do we make the announcement? Do you want me to come over now? Have you told anyone else?
What do you think the stock will go to?'

‘Anything could happen, Alex, I just don't know. My
feeling is that they could go through the roof but, there again, there's going to be one hell of
a lot of skeptics out there!'

‘Jesus!' Kremenchug whispered hoarsely to
himself.

‘I thought we'd inform the market first thing in the
morning,' Fielding suggested.

‘Sounds okay to me,' Kremenchug sounded tired, ‘maybe
we'll start to realize on our investment, at last.'

‘Don't be too anxious to dump your stock,' Fielding
warned, ‘and keep the Exchange informed if you're selling. You know the reporting requirements,
Alex.'

‘Sure, I'll keep everyone posted,' the other man
promised.

****

In the first half-hour following Christopher Fielding's
announcement to the Canadian stock exchanges, Borneo Gold Corporation's shares exploded in value
as news of the extent of the Kalimantan gold find spread. Kremenchug started dumping his original
stake when they tripled to seventy-five cents, bailing out finally when the stock went through
the one-dollar-fifty mark then, becoming near suicidal, when they continued to rise throughout
the day until reaching twelve dollars. He knew Baird would be livid that he had offloaded their
parcel of shares for less than three quarters of a million, especially when their worth at
closing would have exceeded six million dollars. Although this lost opportunity was cushioned by
the knowledge that the value of his entitlement in Sharon's holdings had grown significantly,
Kremenchug's own ‘bird-in-the-hand' mentality drove him to near nervous collapse.

That his Filipino partner had manipulated the assay results was clear – why she
had suddenly become so heavy handed now of paramount concern, Kremenchug apprehensive about the
attention and scrutiny which would undoubtedly follow. His agreement with Sharon had been that
she would build a credible profile for the Longdamai prospects; one that would indicate reserves,
commensurate for the recovery of her uncle's gold. The results arising from the initial drilling
program justified Sharon's nominee company acquiring controlling interest in BGC
– and was sufficient to lay the foundations for a future mine, one which would provide
the mechanism to launder General Dominguez's gold. BGC investors would expect a mine to
materialize with such promising drilling returns. Sharon and Kremenchug had agreed from the
outset, that the falsified samples should show no more than projections of four to five hundred
million in realizable reserves, as such numbers would be acceptable by international standards –
and it was therefore essential for assays to reflect results within these parameters. Their
scheme to recycle the gold was viable, only as long as Sharon could maintain control over the
operations for the few years required to ‘mine', and produce the metal. Once Dominguez's hoard
had been laundered, the plan was to close the operation, announcing that the mine's life had come
to an end, that further extraction was no longer economically viable.

Now, with claims that Longdamai contained more than twenty
million ounces in reserves, he dreaded Jakarta's reaction to the announcement, deeply concerned
that the entire scheme could somehow collapse. Why she increased the levels of gold to such
gigantic proportions confounded Kremenchug. The tantalizing possibility that she had actually
uncovered a bona fide deposit, causing the additional traces added to the samples to grossly
exaggerate the find, now paramount in his mind.

Although concerned by the outcome, of one thing he was
certain – should BGC stock continue to trade at current values over coming months, he would
insist that Sharon sell his share of their joint holdings the moment the escrow period had
lapsed. Then, Sharon would have the option of continuing on, alone, to execute her gold
laundering scheme – although he doubted that she would wish to continue with the original plan,
considering the value of her find. He decided to fly out to Indonesia and warn Sharon to cease
manipulating the drilling results if, in fact, she was still doing so, as the eyes of the world
were now upon them.

****

Part Three: Final

Gibbous Moon

 

Chapter Nineteen

June 1996
Baron Mining – Toronto – Canada

The multinational, mining conglomerate's chairman paused
momentarily as if measuring the man sitting opposite, then opened the leather bound file filled
with handwritten notes, jotted down, during his return flight from Texas. ‘The U.S. ambassador in
Jakarta has been briefed,' the former Canadian Prime Minister referred to the folder. ‘He has
undertaken to make the necessary calls, personally, to arrange access for you to meet with the
Indonesians in private.'