by Matthew Hart
In The Golden Constant: Roy Jastram, The Golden Constant: The English and American Experience, 1560–1976 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1977), 177.
CHAPTER 11: THE GOLD IN THE BAMBOO FOREST
He sits in audience: Al-Bakri, trans. J. F. P. Hopkins, in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, eds. J. F. P. Hopkins and N. Levitzon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 80. Bida legend: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter1.shtml.
In 1698 the Dutch traveler William Bosman: David Crownover, “An Ashanti Soul-Washer Badge,” Expedition 6, no. 2 (Winter 1964): 11–12, http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expe dition/PDFs/6-2/An%20Ashanti.pdf.
A Danish doctor wrote: T. Edward Bowdich, Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee (London: John Murray, 1819), 1.
The ground of our resting place was very damp: Ibid., 20.
They marched in at two o’clock in the afternoon: Entry to Kumasi, festivities, meeting the Asantehene: Ibid., 31–41.
The king’s soul washers wore gold disks: Crownover, “An Ashanti Soul-Washer Badge.” See also “A Soul Washer with Gold Disk and Special Helmet,” http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.CH.DOCUMENT.BFACP1B10189.
The linguists were their living archive: See for example http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.475a–c. The antler finial is in the Gold of Africa Museum, Cape Town.
Where is the Gold Stool?: “The Story of Africa: West African Kingdoms,” BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/4chapter6.shtml.
But that night, in a secret meeting: Yaa Asantewaa: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, 2008, http://www.oxfordreference.com.
The Mali Empire was unknown to Europeans until the appearance of its greatest ruler, Mansa Musa: See for example Hopkins and Levitzon, Corpus of Early Arabic Sources, 341–47, and A. J. H. Goodwin, “The Medieval Empire of Ghana,” South African Archaeological Bulletin 12, 1957: 108–12.
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.
CHAPTER 12: KIBALI
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.
INDEX
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
Blue Star turquoise mine, 91–92
Boka project, 133
Bolivia, 45
Bonanza (TV show), 73
Bondala, 209–11
bonds, 53–54, 73, 177, 179, 226
German, 160
Bosman, William, 189
Botswana, 209
Bowdich, Thomas, 190, 193, 194
Bo Xilai, 131
Bretton Woods system, 61–64, 69
bribery, 18, 97, 98, 140, 147
Brink’s-Mat Ltd., 172–75
Brisebois, Michel, 207–8
Bristol, 173, 174
Bristow, Grant, 223
Bristow, Mark, 221–24
British Library, 194
Budapest, 97–99
Bulgaria, 22
bullion analysts, 154, 157
bullion funds, 154–57
bullion market, 2, 19, 153–57, 161–65, 169–71, 177
BIS exchange and, 176
Bunya, 216
Bureau of Mineral Resources, Liaoning, 131, 132
Bureau of Mines, U.S., 84
Burj Khalifa, 4
Burma (now Myanmar), 116, 121
Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 187–88
Burt, Tye, 224
Business Review Weekly, 138
Cairo, 200
Cajamarca, 31–40
arrival of Spanish reinforcements in, 38
gold assembled in, 36–37
Calder, Wallace, 79
California, 88, 158, 159
gold rush in, 47–49, 79, 201
Camflo Mines, 103–4
Campbell, Frederick Barber, 59
Camp David, gold standard meeting at, 70–75
Canada, 72, 94, 175, 196
Munk in, 97, 99, 100–101, 103–4
Cape Town, 221, 224
capital gains tax, 110
“carbon in pulp” (CIP), 107–8
Carlin, Nev., 91, 93
Carlin Trend, 75–76, 81, 83–86, 96, 97
Carlisle, John G., 53
Carson River, 79
cash deposits, gold compared with, 180
Catalan Atlas, 199
central banks, 65, 68
BIS exchange and, 175–77, 178, 180
forward selling and, 113
gold buying of, 162
gold standard and, 44, 45, 49, 54–55, 58, 63
see also specific banks
Changchun, 126
Chang San Hao, 136–45
cheap labor at, 142–43
equipment failure at, 142
Friedland’s purchase of, 136, 144
Friedland’s sale of, 137
miners in, 139–43, 145
“open to depth” deposit in, 141
traffic at, 141–42
Charlemagne, 8
Charles, Jeremy, 170–71
Charles, Prince of Wales, 219
Chase National Bank, 59
cheats, catching, 175
Chile, 28, 30
China, Chinese, 37, 71, 99, 114–27
central bank of, 154, 156, 162
civil war in, 123, 125
communism in, 115, 117, 121, 123–26, 131
Dalian mining conference in, 131
faking gold in, 181n
gold buying of, 115
gold production in, 115–27, 129–52
gold reserves of, 119, 129
Manchu rulers in, 120
millionaires in, 138, 144
; miners, 48, 115–16, 120, 121, 123, 139–49
Mongols in, 119–20
new minerals policy in, 137
number of gold mines in, 115, 145
ocean mining of, 228
prohibition on private mining in, 146–47
purges in, 124
reparations paid by, 120
running-out-of-gold scenario for, 151–52
small mining operations in, 115–16, 145–50
South Africa compared with, 115, 137
transformation of, 115, 117, 125, 126–27
China National Gold Group Corporation, 124, 137, 141, 143, 145
China National Nuclear Corporation, 129, 136–37
China Railway, 142–43
Christianity, 25–26, 34, 36
Atahualpa’s conversion to, 40
Christian Science Monitor, 146–47
cinnabar, 119
Civil War, U.S., 50
Clairtone Sound Corporation Limited, 100–101
Cleveland, Grover, 53
Clovis culture, 78
CME Group (formerly Chicago Mercantile Exchange), 166
coal, 137–38, 144
Coetzer, Willie, 12–15
Coinage Act (1873), 49
collateral, 159, 166
Colombia, 28, 30
Colorado, 82
Columbus, Christopher, 25–26
commercials, 100
commodity exchange, 166
commodity prices, 62, 97
communism, in China, 115, 117, 121, 123–26, 131
comprehensive force, laws of, 7
Comstock Lode, 79
Conan Doyle, Arthur, 187–88
Congo, Belgian, 217
Congo, Democratic Republic of, 215–29
illegal gold trade in, 225
war in, 216, 226
Congress, U.S., 45, 46, 166
Connally, John B., 66–68, 70, 74
Conquest of the Incas, The (Hemming), 29, 31, 35, 39
consumer price index, 55
Coope, Alan, 86
copper, 99–100, 137, 173
Copts, 201
corruption, 9, 18–22, 219
in China, 131, 142, 144
Cortés, Hernán, 26–27
Cortez, Nev., 93, 108
Crerie, Frank, 131
Crescent Valley, 86, 91, 92
crime, 228
gold and, 8, 9, 16–22, 171–75, 225
currency, 43–45, 49, 65, 96
credibility of, 54–55
gold standard and, 43–44, 54–55
pegged to dollar, 61–62
see also specific currencies