Steven Roman Canada’s uranium king

The Roman Empire is the story of the greed, ruthlessness, sweetheart business deals and monumental ego of a man who made a fortune at the expense of others, says author Paul McKay. This book is his scathing, “unauthorized” story of the life and times of Stephen Roman (1921-88). Roman was a rags-to-riches billionaire who adopted the mantle of an emperor. He always got what he wanted (except for two disastrous attempts to win a seat in the House of Commons). McKay describes Roman as “an avowed foe of government intervention,” who “collected more than $2-billion worth of federal and provincial subsidies and sweetheart deals over three decades,” and to whose impetuous will even the Pope bowed.

The chapter titled “Gold-Plated Giveaway” depicts the controversial deal Ontario Hydro entered into with Denison Mines. That legacy is unmistakable, McKay states. In 1990 Hydro is paying Denison more than $70 per lb. (unsalable anywhere else) to buy uranium from its obsolete behemoth mine at Elliot Lake, Ont. — with the world price at less than $10.

McKay reveals some startling details of that secret international uranium cartel allegedly led by the Canadian government and Canadian uranium producers in 1976, causing a 700% rise in world uranium prices that earned its members a purported $13 billion in revenues. Canada received the biggest share of that windfall, and the biggest single beneficiary was Stephen Roman’s Denison Mines, according to McKay.

“Stephen Roman, the apostle of unfettered free enterprise, saw no hypocrisy in joining forces with government bureaucrats to form a cartel — the very antithesis of a free market,” adds McKay. “Denison Mines, an aggressive member of that cartel, worked a miracle that defies every standard of textbook economics. It not only avoided the closure of its low-grade, economically obsolete mine at Elliot Lake, it guaranteed itself multi-million dollar profits for the next quarter century.”

Just as the ink was beginning to dry on Denison’s Hydro contract, Roman boldly launched his final Canadian mega project — Quintette Coal. “This was a case of being in the wrong game, at the wrong place, and at the wrong time. And there were plenty of warning signs,” writes McKay.

The author thinks Quintette “was and is viable only within the framework of Alice-in-Wonderland economics and paper-mache politics.” He says the project “took $1.5 billion in public subsidies; the snake- oil salesmanship of the B.C. Socreds; 55 gullible banks; and a cash-rich, covetous Japanese client that allowed itself to be shoe-horned into contracts promising heaven and earth but delivered only hell.”

The author has certainly done his homework. His book makes interesting reading. The Roman Empire, by Paul McKay. Published by Key Porter Books Ltd., 70 The Esplanade, Toronto, Ont. M5E 1R2. 242 pages. $28.95 (hardback).