Into 2016 and beyond, page-140

Indeed, heady days. Companies spruiking ground that wasn't even fit for a carpark as the next great flagship project. A bit like asking a whore her name "whatever you want it to be, love", companies would pick up ground and call it a copper project based on a 50ppm rock chip sampled back in 1923, while ignoring the 5,000 m RC the last holder put into it. Or resample the same skinny quartz vein identified in 1884 and get the same 150g/t gold value as the previous 6 holders who resampled it, while ignoring the 20 holes drilled 200m under it that showed didly-squat. Churn that ground over, get the shareholders throwing the money at dud pasture. See who can run up the biggest dinner tab and bar tab at Diggers and Dealers and still get the CFO to sign it off as "project development" for the Form 5. Does the new Porsche Cayenne really count as a tax-deductible exploration vehicle ? Of course ! Its got 4WD and you need it just in case you get stuck on the grass verge outside Scotch College while picking up Rupert and Jacob.

Looking back, how many new genuine operations did the exploration & mining boom actually create. Not many. A lot of banded iron was drilled because companies conned investors into thinking you get a 68% Fe concentrate from 20% Fe BIF. But all in all, the boom just gone has to have been one of the most effective ways of extracting money from shareholders and into suburbs such as Attadale, Applecross, Cottesloe, and Mosman Park, and the construction of 5 bedroom, 12 bathroom, 20 toilet McMansions.

Ahhhh..... happy days......