BOOK REVIEW — Author captures drama of Voisey’s Bay deal

The Big Score:

Robert Friedland, Inco and

the Voisey’s Bay Hustle

By Jacquie McNish

Doubleday Canada Limited

105 Bond Street

Toronto, Ont. M5B 1Y3

The 1993 discovery of the Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper-cobalt deposit in northern Labrador comes to life in The Big Score, by business reporter Jacquie McNish.

The author chronicles the almost accidental discovery of Voisey’s Bay by prospectors Albert Chislett and Chris Verbiski, and their involvement with a small, cash-strapped junior, Diamond Field Resources. The prospectors were excited by their find, but the company’s managers were focused on diamonds and showed little interest in the nickel-copper prospect. Of course, they changed their minds when drilling revealed core rich in massive sulphides, with stunningly rich grades of nickel.

McNish recounts how mining promoter Robert Friedland pushed aside partner Jean-Raymond Boulle, as well as Boulle’s loyal lieutenant, Mike McMurrough, to engineer an undeniably brilliant promotion strategy and bidding war for Voisey’s Bay. Next, she weaves a fascinating account of the heated battle between Falconbridge and Inco to gain control of the deposit, and how Friedland played one against the other. The nickel rivals did try to make a joint bid, but the crafty promoter nixed that by threatening to sue both companies for “collusion.” Eventually, Inco won the day with a $4.3-billion bid.

The Big Score is both well-written and well-researched. McNish provides plenty of colorful background about the main players, including Friedland and the behind-the-scenes brokers and bankers.

Those who followed the Voisey’s Bay story as it unfolded will find a good number of the scenes highly amusing, particularly Friedland’s shoe-banging tantrum with Michael Sopko and Stuart Feiner during the takeover negotiations. When the promoter was done thrashing his shoe on a marble table, he turned to the startled Inco executives and remarked: “I could say what Khrushchev said when he did that at the United Nations: ‘We will bury you.’ Of course, we don’t need to do that now, do we?”

After that outburst, which McNish described as “the enduring symbol of the cold war between Inco and Diamond Fields,” Inco executives viewed Friedland as an irrational adversary. When it came time to draft the final agreement, Inco’s legal team would examine each clause carefully so as to ensure it wouldn’t “get the shoe.”

Well, shoes comes in pairs, and the other is dropping on Friedland now. The value of his “big score” has dwindled in the past few years, a consequence of Inco’s share price, the Asian crisis and weak metal markets. His recent forays into Kazakstan and Indonesia haven’t fared well. And contrary to Friedland’s prediction, Voisey’s Bay isn’t making anyone rich these days.

The Big Score is available in bookstores across Canada.