LETTER TO THE EDITOR — Less regulation and more professionalism

It is with amazement and wry amusement that one hears and reads about the ever-changing, convoluted events surrounding the Busang project in Indonesia.

Particularly amusing are the recent Toronto gatherings of analysts seeking an explanation for events surrounding Busang, and, even more recently, the inquiries initiated by regulators and exchanges. How comic.

We certainly do not need more regulation, bureaucracies or bureaucrats — we need less. We need industry people at all levels to perform their various functions professionally and scientifically.

If I may paraphrase Alan Greenspan, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, the Busang phenomenon was, without a doubt, a gigantic exercise in overexuberance at all levels. Moreover, the procedure followed at the site may have been deficient in professional and scientific scrutiny.

As a result, people and organizations spanning the entire mining spectrum — including corporate administrators, regulators, listing and index boards, investors/speculators, brokers, analysts, media, mining associations, politicians, engineering firms, geologists and individuals (including me) — all have egg on their faces.

That said, I suggest there is no great mystery to assessing a mineral discovery. Any number of independent Canadian engineers or geologists with unrestricted access to Busang data could provide arm’s-length assessments of the project at its various stages of evolution.

Perhaps our regulatory contingents, brokerage houses, exchanges and analysts should simply get back to basics and do the job for which they are qualified. There are numerous skilled mineral industry professionals who can provide them with the information needed to assess the merits of mineral prospects, wherever they are situated.

It is not more regulation that is needed but the timely and prudent use of readily available mining industry talent.

Frank Tagliamonte, P.Eng.

North Bay, Ont.