Some of the remarkable stories uncovered by Lovell
September 1987 –Frazer Guild, Perth Journalist
Story on the Frasers Gold Mine at Southern Cross. the brothers Barry, Dudley and Claude bought into the mine “We knew it was a rich mine”, Dudley Shreeve told Guild. “At one stage it was producing 40 ounces to the tonne.”
Some $200 million dollars of virtually pure gold was estimated by the Shreeves to have been stolen from the mine. May 1989 Barry Shreeve told Investigative journalist Avon Lovell.. “Only 121 ounces were declared out of 397 tonnes in the first few months of 1974. The rest was sent out of the country illegally, either as religious statues and artefacts or taken directly to Bali in a luxury cruiser out of Fremantle port.” The mine was so rich that it was called “The jewellers Shop” by the men who found it. it’s ransacking was of such gargantuan proportions that the Shreeves in 1974 delivered a complaint to the then-Premier of Western Australia, Charles Court and to the then-police Minister, Ray O’Connor.
It read.
In November 1973 wer were approached by C to buy Frasers Gold Mine. V {a public company} had a buyer for Frasers for $4,000,000 but could not sell because C – had a five year tribute on the mine, so he offered them $3,000,000. Lthey agreed to the amount with a $200,000 deposit, the balance to be paid out in gold won by the end of June 1974.
We approached our bank manager (ANZ Market Branch, with C- (who) told Peter Brown that h had deposited over $200,000 worth of gold with Dick Tead, ANZ head office, St Georges Tce, perth in a vault to cover the $100,000 needed for his share of the deposit.
We the Shreeve brothers, mortgaged our houses to raise the other $100,000 to complete the deposit required. We were to repay the bank by June 1974.
Ken M had a tribute agreement typed for us so that we could work one of the leases, No4635 to help C- increase production. DM Shreeve worked at the mine in January and Frebruary 1974 to gain experience for our tribute. Then S, a trustee for V and his geologist inspected the mine and told C to get rid of the Shreeve chap because he was seeing too much, referring to the rich (gold) pipe. We didn’t receive our tribute.
The brothers were perturbed to find that as a result of their letter they themselves were placed under police surveillance. Workers at the mine told them that several senior Government ministers has visited the site and had gone underground to see the Jeweller’s Shop themselves soon after their complaint was lodged. As a last resort they approached an Inspector of Police, Athol Monck, a family friend who then instructed the Company Fraud Squad to investigate. A detective, Ivan Robson, undertook the inquiry. The Shreeve’s statement continued:
Ivan Robson checked the Frasers production and found only 121 ounces of gold from 397 tonnes had been declared up till the end of April 1974. About 12 men worked the mine and it can produce a minimum of 300 to 500 ounces of gold per day as they are working a rich pipe 15 feet high and four feet wide with a solid seam of gold running through it from one inch to four inches thick. C- estimated its value from 60 feet mine in 1973, with gold at $55 an ounce, to be $1,500,000. the price of gold in the meantime has nearly doubled.
Kalgoorlie Gold Stealing Squad detectives were notified but nothing was done to assist the Shreeves or investigate their claims of massive thefts from the Jeweller’s Shop. Complaints to the Mines Department led not to inquiry, but to pressure and intimidation against them from proposed defamation writs to death threats. “Think of your wives and children” they were told.
The Shreeves realized they had little chance of gaining the title to the mine or the stolen gold when given evidence that the son-in-law of one prominent politician was riding gold to an illicit smelting plant in suburban Wembley. Bars of gold were illegally poured and being smuggled to Hong Kong using air hostesses and airline pilots.
One Yugoslav participant had small flat bars sewn in to his coat, visiting overseas cities frequently, until terrorist scares caused the introduction of metal scanners at airports. Ingeniously, he then had the gold moulded into religious statues and artifacts which were not covered by international duties or restrictions.
Robson, the honest cop, gained photographic evidence showing illegal pouring of gold, speciments of the nearly pure seam of gold and a prestigious Perth jeweller surrounded by the specimens which he was illegally trading.. Nothing ensued from his investigative efforts and Robson was later transferred to remote postings in far northern towns of WA for several years. No charges were laid. Ultimately the Shreeves were given vendor shares in the succeeding ownership of Frasers when some other leases they owned to the south of the mine were joined to make a large and profitable open-cut mine.
In the seventies and eighties hundreds of thousands of dollars of Western Australian gold was smuggled out of the state, ransacked from rich mines such as Frasers and stolen in bullion form from flights or straight from the Perth Mint, as revealed in Avon Lovell’s novel, “The Mickelberg Stitch”.
September 1987 –Frazer Guild, Perth Journalist
Story on the Frasers Gold Mine at Southern Cross. the brothers Barry, Dudley and Claude bought into the mine “We knew it was a rich mine”, Dudley Shreeve told Guild. “At one stage it was producing 40 ounces to the tonne.”
Some $200 million dollars of virtually pure gold was estimated by the Shreeves to have been stolen from the mine. May 1989 Barry Shreeve told Investigative journalist Avon Lovell.. “Only 121 ounces were declared out of 397 tonnes in the first few months of 1974. The rest was sent out of the country illegally, either as religious statues and artefacts or taken directly to Bali in a luxury cruiser out of Fremantle port.” The mine was so rich that it was called “The jewellers Shop” by the men who found it. it’s ransacking was of such gargantuan proportions that the Shreeves in 1974 delivered a complaint to the then-Premier of Western Australia, Charles Court and to the then-police Minister, Ray O’Connor.
It read.
In November 1973 wer were approached by C to buy Frasers Gold Mine. V {a public company} had a buyer for Frasers for $4,000,000 but could not sell because C – had a five year tribute on the mine, so he offered them $3,000,000. Lthey agreed to the amount with a $200,000 deposit, the balance to be paid out in gold won by the end of June 1974.
We approached our bank manager (ANZ Market Branch, with C- (who) told Peter Brown that h had deposited over $200,000 worth of gold with Dick Tead, ANZ head office, St Georges Tce, perth in a vault to cover the $100,000 needed for his share of the deposit.
We the Shreeve brothers, mortgaged our houses to raise the other $100,000 to complete the deposit required. We were to repay the bank by June 1974.
Ken M had a tribute agreement typed for us so that we could work one of the leases, No4635 to help C- increase production. DM Shreeve worked at the mine in January and Frebruary 1974 to gain experience for our tribute. Then S, a trustee for V and his geologist inspected the mine and told C to get rid of the Shreeve chap because he was seeing too much, referring to the rich (gold) pipe. We didn’t receive our tribute.
The brothers were perturbed to find that as a result of their letter they themselves were placed under police surveillance. Workers at the mine told them that several senior Government ministers has visited the site and had gone underground to see the Jeweller’s Shop themselves soon after their complaint was lodged. As a last resort they approached an Inspector of Police, Athol Monck, a family friend who then instructed the Company Fraud Squad to investigate. A detective, Ivan Robson, undertook the inquiry. The Shreeve’s statement continued:
Ivan Robson checked the Frasers production and found only 121 ounces of gold from 397 tonnes had been declared up till the end of April 1974. About 12 men worked the mine and it can produce a minimum of 300 to 500 ounces of gold per day as they are working a rich pipe 15 feet high and four feet wide with a solid seam of gold running through it from one inch to four inches thick. C- estimated its value from 60 feet mine in 1973, with gold at $55 an ounce, to be $1,500,000. the price of gold in the meantime has nearly doubled.
Kalgoorlie Gold Stealing Squad detectives were notified but nothing was done to assist the Shreeves or investigate their claims of massive thefts from the Jeweller’s Shop. Complaints to the Mines Department led not to inquiry, but to pressure and intimidation against them from proposed defamation writs to death threats. “Think of your wives and children” they were told.
The Shreeves realized they had little chance of gaining the title to the mine or the stolen gold when given evidence that the son-in-law of one prominent politician was riding gold to an illicit smelting plant in suburban Wembley. Bars of gold were illegally poured and being smuggled to Hong Kong using air hostesses and airline pilots.
One Yugoslav participant had small flat bars sewn in to his coat, visiting overseas cities frequently, until terrorist scares caused the introduction of metal scanners at airports. Ingeniously, he then had the gold moulded into religious statues and artifacts which were not covered by international duties or restrictions.
Robson, the honest cop, gained photographic evidence showing illegal pouring of gold, speciments of the nearly pure seam of gold and a prestigious Perth jeweller surrounded by the specimens which he was illegally trading.. Nothing ensued from his investigative efforts and Robson was later transferred to remote postings in far northern towns of WA for several years. No charges were laid. Ultimately the Shreeves were given vendor shares in the succeeding ownership of Frasers when some other leases they owned to the south of the mine were joined to make a large and profitable open-cut mine.
In the seventies and eighties hundreds of thousands of dollars of Western Australian gold was smuggled out of the state, ransacked from rich mines such as Frasers and stolen in bullion form from flights or straight from the Perth Mint, as revealed in Avon Lovell’s novel, “The Mickelberg Stitch”.
