They certainly were. Gobsmacking to think that this article was...

They certainly were. Gobsmacking to think that this article was published 8 years ago in the West Australian and there was no oversight from ASIC or the ASX whatsoever. The geologist Sheldon Coates could've been the white knight for shareholders but he owned far too many shares. It wasn't in his interest to take the CEO, the execs and all the Doutch's through the courts and to the wall because it would trash the share price. So the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount (no doubt coughed up by shareholders via a 'proposed issue of securities' announcement) and Sheldon signed a non disclosure agreement.

I scrolled back through HotCopper to see if I could find any posts about this matter but didn't come across anything. The company announcement was brief, just said the matter had been resolved and it wasn't responded to by any posters.
To think that all those years ago this could've gone through the courts. There might have been jail terms, certainly the upheaval of management and the Board and the company might have had half a chance of thriving. Instead it was born of corruption which became deeply embedded and here we are now. The party is over.