Thanks for the court update 123enen.Gregory Bennett Barnes is a...

Thanks for the court update 123enen.

Gregory Bennett Barnes is a busy boy in court atm.
Two separate court actions on opposite sides of the country.
And Janine Walker, who I believe is Barnes' long-standing secretary, is referred to in the CHM proceedings, and is a co-director with Barnes in the GGG action.

First legal action - Chameleon Mining (CHM) Versus Murchison Metals (MMX)

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,26211252-5005200,00.html

Chameleon changes tack in court case

Susannah Moran | October 15, 2009

Article from: The Australian

CHAMELEON Mining is upping the stakes in its court action against Murchison Metals by seeking to amend its case to push for further damages in its fight over lucrative iron ore tenements. Yesterday, the case was adjourned for a day to allow Chameleon to formulate its revised claims. The parties will return to court today to argue whether the new claims can be allowed.

Chameleon is pursuing Murchison, former Chameleon managing director Greg Barnes and former Murchison director Philip Grimaldi in the Federal Court. Chameleon says its money was used to fund a 2004 deal to buy iron ore tenements -- but that its shareholders got nothing in return. It says Mr Barnes and Mr Grimaldi breached their duties, and is seeking a slice of the estimated $800 million the Jack Hills tenements are worth.

Yesterday's move to amend the statement of claim follows the evidence of Nik Zuks, who gave evidence on Monday and Tuesday. Mr Zuks was involved in the Winterfall company that was looking for funds to pay further instalments on the tenements. He told the court he met Mr Grimaldi and Mr Barnes at a Perth pub in April 2004 where Mr Grimaldi said: "Don't worry, I've got the money and I can do it."

An agreement was quickly signed, and NiCu, as Murchison Metals was then known, was going to provide finance. In addition, Mr Zuks told the court, both Mr Grimaldi and Mr Barnes said they wanted to be "rewarded" for the introduction to the project. They later received 10 million shares in Winterfall -- which would later convert to 10 million shares in Murchison. However, this deal was not disclosed in the bidder's statement of Murchison's proposed takeover of Winterfall. They also received 12 million options, which were later converted to shares.

Mr Zuks told the court the promised funding was slow in coming from Mr Grimaldi, and it was "a bit of a surprise" to learn that a $56,000 cheque from Chameleon Mining, signed by Mr Barnes and his secretary, was to be used to pay for one of the instalments in the project. A further $96,000 was also to be paid by Chameleon.

Mr Zuks said he asked for "evidence" that the payment could be made because of concerns he had that it could be a related-party transaction, and that Mr Barnes was "uncomfortable" when the matter was raised. "It stuck in my mind, where Barnes sort of -- his words weren't flowing clearly. He just felt uncomfortable with it. Why, that was his business, but I could see that something was not right."

Mr Zuks said he was told that the two companies "had this arrangement where they, from time to time, loaned money to each other".
[end]

Second legal action - Westrip Holdings Ltd Versus Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd (GGG) and Rimbal Pty Ltd Versus Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd (GGG)

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20090721/pdf/31jng1xnm5rg2c.pdf

Litigation support to minorities of joint venture partner, Westrip.
Tuesday 21 July 2009
ASX Company announcement

Background

As the market is aware, Greenland Minerals and Energy Limited (“GGG,
or the ‘Company”) is a party to a joint venture agreement with
UK-based Westrip Holdings Limited (“Westrip”) dated 14 March 2007
relating to the Kvanefjeld multi-element project in Greenland.
Greenland Minerals and Trading A/S, (“GME”) a Greenland incorporated
subsidiary of GGG holds licenses relevant to the Kvanefjeld
multi-element project. Under the terms of the joint venture, Westrip
owns 39% of GMT. Negotiations were previously held with Westrip to
simplify its terms of the joint venture.

Issue

A number of minority shareholders in Westrip (the “Claimants”) have
commenced court proceedings independently in respect of a derivative
action against Westrip, its directors, (which include Mr Gregory
Bennet Barnes, Ms Janine Walker (since resigned), Mr Dabinder Powar and Mr Hans Kristian Schonwandt), Rimbal Pty Ltd and Horrocks
Enterprises Pty Ltd, The latter two companies are Australian based
companies owned by Mr Gregory Bennet Barnes, Ms Janine Walker.
This action does not include the newly appointed director John Greeves).
GGG’s interest in the joint venture is not in question. Nor are any of
its rights under this agreement however given the circumstance and the
allegations, the directors have resolved to financially support the
Claimants with an appropriate cap to the level of assistance. The
Company has taken this decision based on legal advice received from
the Company’s UK based lawyers.
There are injunctions being applied for against all of the named
defendants associated with Westrip as outlined above.
The Company will keep the market informed of the proceedings.
Yours faithfully
Roderick McIllree
Managing Director

-------------------------------

Note 1: Coincidentally, John Greeves (highlighted above) is a director of Westrip - and his company Jackson Greeve were auditors for Chameleon, as mentioned in one of the articles below.

Note 2: Believe that correct spelling of name is Gregory Bennett Barnes, and not Gregory Bennet Barnes as per GGG announcement.

-------------------------------

From the Pierpont files....Chameleon sure took up a lot of column space for Trevor Sykes over the years, and as MD of Chameleon, the spotlight shone on Greg Barnes.

Sykes' description - "Chameleon is one of Pierpont's very favourite modern resource companies."

With Trevor Prider (internationally infamous scammer who was involved with Chameleon), (convicted market rigger) Dean Scook (who also had dealings with Chameleon) and a long list of "colourful" characters, no wonder Chameleon stood out - but for all the wrong reasons.

Article 1:


http://www.pierpont.com.au/article.php?Chameleon-puts-Lizards-to-Shame-282

Chameleon puts Lizards to Shame
Friday, September 17th, 2004

Mrs Pierpont has never forgotten her first social meeting with a
chameleon. She was a slip of a girl at the time, holidaying with an
aunt in Marrakesh.

Bypassing other plant products for which Marrakesh later became
famous, the young Mrs Pierpont went to the casbah to buy saffron,
which a merchant was selling by the kilogram for only a few shillings.

While the merchant wrapped the saffron, he entertained his customer by
placing a chameleon on the counter in front of her. Mrs Pierpont
watched fascinated as the lizard's skin turned from dark brown to
green and then yellow. When she returned home she discovered that
while she had been bedazzled by the lizard's colour show, the merchant
had switched her valuable saffron for a bag of flour.

Investors in Chameleon Mining must be feeling some empathy for
Pierpont's bride. Since listing a year ago, the share price has
changed from 20 ? to 4 ? and Chameleon is changing from a goldminer to
a copper miner. Indeed, the present animal is barely recognisable as
the one described in its prospectus.

The most noteworthy points of Chameleon's prospectus, issued in April
2003, were: The very first page was a long panegyric to gold ("a
remarkable metal with an unparalleled combination of chemical and
physical properties that make it invaluable"). The whole thrust of the
prospectus was that Chameleon would concentrate on goldmining in Fiji
and the Kimberley. Gold production, and hence cash flow, would start
from Ruby Queen and Mt Dockrell in Western Australia soon after
listing. The Koroboya prospect, near the Emperor mine in Fiji, was a
priority target and would be drilled soon after listing. Directors had
estimated a geological resource of half-a-million ounces of gold at
Ndakunimba in Fiji. Directors also believed all their Fijian leases
had "proven potential" for the discovery of "world-class large tonnage
epithermal gold".

Exciting stuff, but for some reason the excitement was not shared by
the punting public. Chameleon was seeking $7.5 million in 20 ? shares
plus another $3.5 million in oversubscriptions. But instead of raising
$11 million, it managed to scrape together only a mere $5 million and
took four months doing it.

Chameleon listed in August 2003 and won the dubious honour of being
Australia's worst-performing float for the last financial year. On a
few occasions last November, it rose above issue price, briefly
touching 23 ?, but since then Chameleon's share graph has headed
remorselessly south.

By June 30, the shares had sunk to 5.3 ?. After allowing for the
one-for-two options issued with the shares, the Chameleon share price
was down 69 per cent for the year to June.

Casting around for a few clues to this dismal performance, Pierpont
first looked for an annual report. But as Chameleon listed in August
2003, it did not have to issue an annual report as a listed company
for 2002-03, and so far it has not issued one for 2003-04.

Indeed, it has not yet issued a preliminary profit statement, although
balance date was 11 weeks ago. (BHP Billiton managed to get its
results out in mid-August, so Pierpont can only conclude that
Chameleon's accounts must be more complex.)

Faute de mieux, Pierpont went to the ASX website and read Chameleon's
December interim accounts and its cash flow statements for March and
June 2004. One point that struck Pierpont was that Chameleon hasn't
been receiving any cash flow from Ruby Queen and Mt Dockrell, which
were supposed to be in production pretty well straight away.

In July 2003, Chameleon released a statement of forecast cash flows to
the ASX. These showed Chameleon enjoying receipts from alluvial mining
of $315,000 in its first year (2003-04), $550,000 in year two and
$775,000 in year three.

So far this hasn't happened. The prospectus said mining would begin at
Ruby Queen "immediately after listing". But the cash flow statements
since listing show no income.

That's because there's no mining. Chameleon's managing director,
veteran geologist Greg Barnes, told Pierpont that Ruby Queen had been
plainted (claimed, if you like) by another prospector, which had held
up any mining plans. Also, Chameleon had acquired the neighbouring
Palm Springs gold deposit since listing, which meant the company now
had to plan how to combine the two operations.

Any punter who dug back to the geologist's report on page 94 of the
Chameleon prospectus might have guessed Ruby Queen would take some
time to come on stream, anyway. The geo's report said little modern
exploration work had been carried out within the tenements and
recommended compilation of available geological data and mapping to
delineate drill targets. That indicated an exploration program, not
immediate alluvial mining.

Nor has much been happening in Fiji.

Chameleon's December-half report said: "Following the termination of
the company's consultant for Fiji, the company is assessing the
projects. Agreements have been terminated with Nationwide Minerals
Consultant Pty Ltd and Rupert Ltd, both associated with independent
geologist Robert McLennan. The company has discovered that it has
considerably less data than previously realised to commence its
fieldwork including drilling and accordingly the directors have agreed
to defer exploration activities in Fiji until July 2004."

Even by Marrakesh standards, that's a fairly large change. Chameleon
was saying it had less exploration data than it thought it had when
the prospectus was written.

The dismissal of Robert must have involved some angst. He was one of
the two major vendors to the Chameleon float. The first list of the
top 20 shareholders issued by Chameleon in July 2003 showed Robert's
company Rupert Ltd was the largest shareholder with 22.6 per cent of
the company.

Now Chameleon and Robert are suing each other. Robert and Rupert were
originally contracted to Chameleon for three years at a total cost of
$432,000. Robert is now suing Chameleon for $200,000. Chameleon says
it is counter-suing Robert for an amount that greatly exceeds that.

Greg told Pierpont that Chameleon is now demanding that Robert hand
all his data over to the company. Meanwhile, the great Fiji
exploration program has been in limbo.

(The other major vendor to Chameleon, incidentally, was the wannabe
telco Weboz Ltd, which changed its name to Nicu Metals Ltd and somehow
resurfaced with some mining leases. The moving spirit of Weboz/Nicu is
Philip Grimaldi, whom veteran readers will recall as a one-time star
of a company called Westeq which for a while owned the Sydney Swans.)

Returning to Chameleon's cash-flow statements, Pierpont noted that not
only isn't the company mining, but it doesn't seem to be exploring
much, either. In the December half, it spent $230,000 on operating
expenses that would have included exploration. In the March and June
quarters, it spent a further $191,000.

So all up, Chameleon has spent $421,000 on exploration in its first
year of life. Not many mines are started on that little exploration
and Chameleon doesn't appear close to mining any of its prospectus
deposits yet.

In any case, there is some doubt over the prospectus estimate of
half-a-million ounces at Ndakunimba. In August 2003, Chameleon
announced that a "a previous drilling program has confirmed a
geological resource of up to 500,000 ounces of gold" at Ndakunimba.

A week later Chameleon withdrew the statement, saying it was an
interpretation by directors of an independent report by Terrence
Willsteed and Associates but their interpretation did not comply with
the JORC Code. So the half-a-million ounces are less confirmed than
they used to be.

Right now Chameleon is completing a takeover of a company named
Chalceus Ltd, which owns the Cerro Negro copper and sulphate mine in
Chile. Cerro Negro will cost $US4.5 million ($6.5 million). On the
numbers, it looks a jolly good bargain, because Chameleon says the
projected yearly earnings are $US3.4 million in 2004 and $US5.4
million in 2005. Greg told Pierpont he was able to buy Cerro Negro
cheaply because the mine was owned by the workers, who were keen to
cash in their holdings.

Readers will note that this marks a big change from Chameleon's
declared policy of focusing on gold, and investors could be pardoned
for wondering when the company was going to settle down.

Well, although Chameleon has changed more often than a traffic light
in its maiden year of existence, the Cerro Negro purchase might
finally have changed the company into the colour of money.

We should find out soon. Meanwhile, for the benefit of all lizard
lovers out there, Pierpont should say that Mrs Pierpont is still fond
of chameleons, but she has a healthy distrust of bazaar merchants,
either in Morocco or the ASX.

-------------------------------

Article 2:

http://www.pierpont.com.au/article.php?Missing-3-Million-and-One-Platform-401

Missing: $3 Million and One Platform
Friday, September 24th, 2004

Tread softly as you pass, because Pierpont is in a delicate state. He
spent several hours at the Vin de Champagne Awards and appears to have
left most of his brain cells there.

{snipped}

So, in case readers are in any doubt, Pierpont had a jolly good
evening. However, it has left your correspondent's brain operating on
minimum wattage, so he will take it lightly and spend this column
revisiting a couple of familiar companies: Chameleon Mining and Media
World Communications.

Readers who stayed awake through last week's column will recall that
Chameleon Mining did not quite turn out the way it was supposed to in
its prospectus. Chameleon's prospectus said it was going to get
instant cash flow by mining the Ruby Queen gold deposit in the
Kimberley, but it didn't.

The prospectus also said Chameleon had a half-million-ounce deposit in
Fiji, but it turned out that the number was not supported by
geological data. Indeed, Chameleon's managing director, Greg Barnes,
told Pierpont he's still trying to get the data from geologist Robert
McLennan. As Greg has sacked Rob from the board, there would appear to
be no small acrimony between the parties.

One other point that Pierpont did not pursue last week was the $3
million that Chameleon has on deposit. Chameleon raised just over $5
million when it floated a year ago. At first Chameleon said $3 million
of the cash was in a solicitor's trust account. Later the $3 million
was described as being on deposit.

Chameleon's auditor, Jackson Greeve, made a review of the company's
interim accounts for the period to December 2003. In that review
(which is less than a full audit), Jackson said: "A debtor of $3
million is included in receivables, the recovery of which is necessary
for the going-concern basis of the company. The directors advise this
amount is fully recoverable and when received is to meet exploration
expenditure." To Pierpont's cynical mind, an auditor who raises the
question of whether a loan is recoverable is implying there is some
possibility it won't be.

In its takeover document for the Chilean mine, Chameleon revealed that
the $3 million was on deposit at 9 per cent, renewable quarterly, with
an unrelated party named Zenith Developments (Australia) Ltd.

Pierpont has never heard of Zenith Developments, but it sounds a bit
less solid than the ANZ. Pierpont could not find any company of that
name in any of Telstra's Australian directories. Nor could Pierpont
find a company named Zenith Developments (Australia) Ltd registered on
the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) website.

However, Pierpont's search unearthed a company with the disturbingly
similar name of Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd.
Disturbingly, because Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd
went into liquidation on September 16. It's almost certainly a
coincidence, but Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd has an
apparent deficiency of $3.1 million.

Pierpont rang Zenith's liquidator, Robert Whitton of Knights, who said
that he was not aware of any creditor for $3 million and that he'd
never heard of Chameleon Mining. He added that Zenith Development
Company (Australia) Pty Ltd had been founded by a chap named Ian
Prider, who had been the sole director until last July.

So Pierpont rang Chameleon's managing director, veteran prospector
Greg Barnes. Greg said no, Chameleon hadn't lent its money to the
company that was in liquidation. It had deposited its $3 million with
Zenith Development (Australia) Ltd, which was quite a sound company
run by a chap called Trevor Prider.

An alarm bell rang inside Pierpont's empty skull. Was Trevor a
relation of Ian Prider, Pierpont asked. Trevor was Ian's father, Greg
replied.

Pierpont hung up slowly. He looked again at the printout on Zenith
Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd the Zenith that is in
liquidation. Its registered office is the law firm Prider & Co in the
distant western Sydney suburb of Kellyville.

So Chameleon has lent the bulk of the funds it raised in the float
with a company that is not registered with Asic and is run by the
father of a chap who founded a company with a very similar name, which
is now in liquidation.

Chameleon's investors may be interested to know that. They may also be
interested to know that Chameleon's quarterly cash statements show no
interest income, which can only imply that Zenith Development
(Australia) Ltd has not yet paid any interest, or not in cash, anyway.

In the present environment, 9 per cent is a ripper interest rate, but
if Pierpont were a Chameleon investor, he'd prefer the $3 million to
be somewhere a bit more visible and living a long way further from a
company in liquidation.

The situation would be easier to understand if Chameleon had never
actually raised the $3 million in the first place, but had just
pencilled in the amount and then made a notional loan back to whoever
was supposed to have subscribed. But that thought merely illustrates
how deranged Pierpont's mentality has become, because no public
company would consider such a subterfuge.


-------------------------------

Article 3:

http://www.pierpont.com.au/article.php?A-prospectus-mine-in-the-Kimberley-292

A prospectus mine in the Kimberley
Friday, March 18th, 2005

The best-equipped airport in Australia is Hall's Creek in the
Kimberley. When your light aircraft touches down, it taxis to the
gate: there's no terminal, just an outback gate. You walk through the
gate and less than 200 metres the other side is the bar of the Hall's
Creek pub.

This strikes Pierpont as the ideal topography for an airport.
Certainly it is an enormous improvement on airports such as Heathrow
and Los Angeles, where alighting passengers have died of thirst before
reaching the nearest bar.

However, the airport is about the limit to the attractions of Hall's
Creek. The locals take pride in the town's history as a mining centre
and will try to sell the visitor gold prospects, but in Pierpont's
experience it is far cheaper to stay in the bar and keep drinking.

As he quills these words, Pierpont is thinking in particular of a gold
prospect named Mt Dockerell (sometimes spelled Dockrell).

It has been around for a long time, passed through a number of owners,
been touted optimistically in prospectuses, and has never produced any
decent gold. True, Halls Creek was the first goldfield discovered in
WA, as prospectors who had been exploring in the Top End came across
to the East Kimberley in the 1880s and started scratching around.

The prospectors discovered some alluvial gold and a little in quartz
veins, but there wasn't much and so they moved south to Marble Bar and
the Pilbara and - ultimately - to Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie. The
Kimberley mines were relatively poor, as is shown by the fact that
they have never been reopened on any scale in the past century.

Pierpont first ran across Mt Dockerell in 1988 when it was the
property of a company named Mount Dockerell Mining NL, which was being
taken over by Maldon Minerals.

Maldon had a board whose turnover rate would have done credit to a
Kings Cross motel. At one point, it went through 16 directors in less
than 21/2 years, which is pretty good considering there were never
more than five on the board at any given time.

They were a star-studded cast, too. Corporate celebrities who made
guest appearances on the board included Eric Jury (chairman for a
bit), Joe Sacca (bosom pal of Laurie Connell), Collin Vost (who also
knew Laurie well) and David Michael Fuller (director of Independent
Resources NL, which Pierpont still thinks of as a training ground for
ASIC investigators).

In 1988, Maldon put out a press release lauding the analysis of its
"outstanding conceptual geologist" Ian Martin. "Using his unique
conceptual model, Dr Martin has defined a huge geochemical anomaly
covering eight square kilometres", Maldon panted. "This anomaly is
believed to be the largest geochemical anomaly ever defined in
Australia. Anomalies of this size are rare by world standards and may
define a new mining province bigger than Kalgoorlie or the Carlin area
of Nevada in the US."

The good doctor estimated Mt Dockerell's resources, then prudently
discounted them by 80 and 90 per cent before coming up with a
valuation of $2.1 million for the prospect. Well, if Pierpont owned a
gold prospect that could be another Kalgoorlie or Carlin Trend, he
would drill a few holes in it.

Maldon, probably working on the theory that many a good mine has been
ruined that way, did no such thing. It farmed Mt Dockerell out to
First Investors Resources, which was part of Joe Gutnick's stable, but
Joe didn't do much with it either - even though Joe was notorious for
drilling his prospects like a Swiss cheese.

At one point in 1996, Mt Dockerell also appears to have drifted
through the hands of Mt Grace Gold Mining NL. From there, or perhaps
through other owners, the prospect was acquired by a company called
New Millenium Resources NL, which was listed on the London Stock
Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.

New Millenium was more interested in finding diamonds in Greenland and
Angola (which should keep their geologists with a varied wardrobe),
and flogged Mt Dockerell at the start of 2003 to Chameleon Mining.
Chameleon is one of Pierpont's very favourite modern resource
companies.

The prospectus stated that Chameleon's wholly owned subsidiary, Tembo
Gold Holdings Pty Ltd, owned 90 per cent of Mt Dockerell (spelling it
Dockrell). The prospectus said previous exploration had identified a
target resource totalling 5 million tonnes. Mt Dockerell was valued at
between $886,000 and $1.06 million.

The consulting geologists to Chameleon, Al Maynard & Associates, said
Mt Dockerell was one of the alluvial goldfields discovered and worked
in the East Kimberley in the late 1880s. In the 1980s, Greg Barnes,
who became managing director of Chameleon Mining NL, did extensive
costeaning (trenching) and made the 5 million tonnes estimate but
didn't give any grades (which, to be fair, are notoriously difficult
in alluvial deposits).

Maynard went on to say there had been only small gold production since
Mt Dockerell was discovered, the early miners discouraged by
isolation, drought and hostile Aborigines. The field was virtually
unworked from the turn of the 20th century to the 1950s.

"Since that time various prospectors have worked the area for alluvial
gold with mixed results," Maynard said. "As far as can be determined,
there has not been any serious attempts at hard rock mining anywhere
within the licence group." In other words, Greg dug around Mt
Dockerell energetically in the early 1980s, but, apart from him,
nobody has turned a shovelful of earth in the past 120 years.

Maldon, First Investors, New Millenium and Mt Grace used it in
prospectuses but carefully refrained from damaging its potential by
actually trying to mine it. Under Greg, who must have known the
deposit better than anyone else on earth, Chameleon never mined, or
even scratched, Mt Dockerell.

Mind you, Chameleon never mined anything else, because it never had
any money to begin with. So Pierpont thinks he's got Mt Dockerell's
number now. It's not a drilling mine or a digging mine. It's a
prospectus mine.
[end]

-------------------------------

Article 4:

http://www.pierpont.com.au/article.php?Chameleon-had-a-star-studded-cast-55


Chameleon had a star-studded cast
Friday, February 4th, 2005

For a change today, Pierpont is going to play a little game called
Spot the Stars.

Although this column will celebrate its 33rd birthday in a fortnight,
never in all that time has Pierpont seen so many sharemarket stars
associated with one company as there were with Chameleon Mining NL,
which went into liquidation on December 22.

Pierpont apologises for not delivering the news until now, but
Chameleon in its typically laid-back manner didn't announce that it
had been liquidated until January 29.

This ends the career of Chameleon which in its short but colourful
life boasted the richest cast of characters Pierpont has seen since
Around The World In Eighty Days. Chameleon listed in August 2003, bit
the dust in December 2004 and was a total disaster in everything it
touched all the way through.

Even before it floated, Chameleon was a vehicle for the stars. One
early director was Thomas George "Dick" Whitbread. Modern readers may
not recognise the name, but Dick used to be one of the lieutenants of
Mort Hutcheson at Cambridge Credit Corporation, which has been
immortalised in our history as one of Australia's greatest financial
disasters of the 1970s.

Dick once explained to Pierpont that because his family had a military
history, he had been nicknamed Dick after Richard the Lionheart. At
that time, Dick was working for Eric Jury, who owned the Black Market
nightclub near Sydney's Central Station. But don't let Pierpont start
reminiscing about the Black Market, some of whose clientele may still
be in therapy.

Getting back to Chameleon, Dick resigned in November 2002. The
prospectus mentioned that he had acted as a consultant during the
float. Dick has now put in a claim for consultancy fees, which must
mean Chameleon took a long time not paying him. Pierpont's not
shedding too many tears for Dick, though, because there were a few
widows and orphans who didn't get paid when Cambridge bit the dust
either.

Chameleon's shaky ASX career appears to have begun on borrowed money.
One of the claims received by the liquidator is from a company with
the unlikely name of Chimera Emporium, run by Sydney businesswoman
Angie Somers, who was then a friend of Chameleon's secretary, Landan
Roberts.

Angie is now claiming she lent Chameleon $235,000 to get it started
and that she was never repaid. With interest, her claim is now
$300,000, and Pierpont hears the friendship with Landan has cooled
somewhat.

Chameleon's managing director is Greg Barnes, a prospector who has
enjoyed a long association with Pierpont's old chum Peter Briggs. So
there are two more star names to add to the cast.

Chameleon acquired Ruby Queen and Mount Dockrell in the Kimberleys.
(Incidentally, Pierpont would be interested in contact from any reader
who can provide details of the historical ownership of Mount Dockrell,
which seems to have passed through some colourful hands in its time.)

Mount Dockrell and Ruby Queen were bought from the "dotgone" Weboz
Ltd, later known as Nicu Metals. The executive director of Weboz/Nicu
was Phillip Grimaldi, whom Pierpont first met in 1988 when Phillip was
running a company called Westeq in association with Bob Coghill.

Westeq was an unsuccessful investor that mopped up quite a bit of
shareholder money. It bought 31 per cent of Powerplay International,
which owned the Sydney Swans. No sooner had Westeq bought in than the
fortunes of the Swans nosedived.

Westeq also bought 27 per cent of International Innovations, owner of
the Paracel hyperbaric recompression chamber, which cured burns. The
chamber couldn't cure International Innovations' cash burn, however,
which was so bad that Bob barred Pierpont from attending the company's
annual meeting to get more data on its affairs. Westeq was delisted
the following year after failing to pay its listing fees.

Chameleon also acquired interests in some Fijian gold prospects from
prospector Robert McLennan. Robert is another chap with a colourful
history, having been involved in litigation with several mining
companies during his career.

Robert also was a founder of a company called Red Anchor Resources,
which listed in September 1990. After Red Anchor's first annual report
in June 1991, the Australian Securities Commission (as it then was)
formed the view that the company was insolvent and wound it up. Robert
was convicted of having procured $100,000 from the company and
providing false information to an auditor. Robert was sentenced to 400
hours community service.

With such an illustrious lineage, Chameleon was always bound to be a
notable company. The prospectus sought $7.5 million in 20c shares, but
took four months to scrape together $5 million although whether $3
million of that ever existed is debatable.

In its prospectus, Chameleon emphasised how it was going to bring Ruby
Queen and Mt Dockrell on stream straight away with alluvial and heap
leaching, and said the Fijian leases had world-class potential.
Chameleon issued forecast cash flows to the ASX that showed the
company would enjoy receipts from alluvial mining of $315,000 in
2003-04, rising to $775,000 in 2005-06.

None of this happened. Gold had not been produced from the Kimberley
mines since 1964 and much of the exploration data dated back to the
19th century. Despite the prospectus statements, they never looked
likely to swing into production immediately. Even if there were any
mining plans, they were held up when another prospector plainted
(claimed, if you like) Ruby Queen.

Fiji was even more fraught. Robert was owed $205,000 for the
prospects, which was due to be paid within seven days of listing.

Chameleon didn't pay. The company told the ASX it had less data on the
Fiji prospects than previously realised. The company terminated its
consultancy agreement with Robert: no small exercise because Robert
held 22.6 per cent of the company.

Robert promptly sued Chameleon. The lawsuit was successful in that it
resulted in Chameleon being put into liquidation, but unsuccessful in
that Robert has yet to recoup a cent. Interestingly, during his
lawsuit, Robert was receiving advice from Bob Coghill.

The $5 million purportedly raised by the company was never in its bank
account. As Pierpont has previously written, $3 million of that
appears to have been phantom money.

At first, Chameleon told the ASX $3 million was being held in a
solicitor's trust account. Later the $3 million was described as being
on deposit.

Chameleon's report for the year to June 2004 (signed off on October
30) gave a third version. This time Chameleon said: "The Zenith group
was introduced to the company early in the year as an experienced
financier of international acquisitions and investments and as a
company of substance". (The references to Zenith as a company and a
group don't hang together, but Pierpont will get to that in a minute.)

"As a result of the company's problems with its Fijian project, the
directors decided to target mining assets which the company could
purchase and obtain a cash flow from," the annual report continued.
"The Zenith group was requested and offered financial assistance for
this purpose. Funds of $3 million plus a fee of $100,000 was agreed to
be offset against a facility which Zenith would obtain, up to a sum of
$8.2 million, for the acquisition of the Cerro Negro copper mine [in
Chile]."

As Pierpont understands it, Zenith was pencilled into the float for $3
million worth of stock. But although the shares were issued, Chameleon
never received the $3 million. Nor did Zenith buy the Chilean mine for
Chameleon.

The Zenith group is run by Trevor Prider from Victor Harbor in South
Australia, and his son Ian, a lawyer whose firm is based in the
distant Sydney suburb of Kellyville. For the benefit of readers who
are weak on geography, neither Victor Harbor nor Kellyville are
renowned as centres of international finance.

The Zenith group has other discouraging features financially. Zenith
Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd, run by Ian, went into
liquidation in September last year. When Pierpont learned this, he
rang Greg Barnes, who said the $3 million was with the similarly named
Zenith Development Company Ltd, which was run by Trevor and quite
sound.

Pierpont's conversation with Greg occurred on about September 20 last
year. By the end of October, Chameleon had issued accounts providing
for the whole $3 million on the ground there was "some uncertainty"
about Zenith Development Company Ltd, which owed the $3 million. So a
sound company had become uncertain within six weeks.

Three months later, repayment of the $3 million looks totally
uncertain, because Zenith Development Company Ltd turns out to be
based on the Isle of Man and because Chameleon is stone broke the
liquidators can't even afford the cost of a ticket to fly there.

Meanwhile, since mentioning the Priders in a previous column, Pierpont
has received reports from readers who have given him some history of
Trevor's past financial activities (notably in England, Germany,
Montreal and Los Angeles) and would be most interested in renewing his
acquaintance. One reader was even solicitous enough to ask after the
state of Trevor's assets.

Chameleon's liquidator, John Vouris, must now be trying to sell
Chameleon's assets, such as they are. The most valuable (in the books
anyway) is the Peak Hill gold deposit in WA, which Chameleon bought
from a company associated with Dean Scook. Dean is yet another star,
having given us Mobi Tow Ltd, which had one of the shortest lives as a
listed company that Pierpont has ever seen.

Speaking of Chameleon's accounts, the whisper around the Croesus Club
is that John is having no small difficulty sorting out Chameleon's
affairs, mainly because there don't seem to be many financial records.
The shortage is so acute that John is reported to be puzzled as to how
the company managed to publish its accounts for September and
December.

It has also crossed Pierpont's mind that the Chameleon prospectus may
have been a tad deficient, because it didn't mention the loan from
Chimera Emporium. According to Angie's lawyer, she has made repeated
demands for repayment by Chameleon. She hit the company with a
statement of claim in May 2004. Yet the company didn't bother
mentioning it as a present or contingent liability in its June
accounts.

Meanwhile, for a fee of a few million dollars, Pierpont is prepared to
write the corporate history of Chameleon for the Australian Graduate
School of Management. It must be a textbook case on how not to run a
company.

Footnote: Greg Barnes of Chameleon should not be confused with Greg
Barns, the former politician, assiduous self-publicist and republican
propagandist who runs Republic Gold.