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Locals hit gold with Bre-X
Stock demise moves creative juices by Mark Sproxton
NNSL (May 16/97) - The sharp-witted humor long associated with the North has once again flourished with the demise of the Bre-X mining company.
Francois Thibault of Originals by T-BO and Christopher Hunt, manager of Arctic Spirit Clothing, have come up with products to add a bit of levity to the stock market crash of the Calgary-based company.
Thibault developed and designed the "Official Bre-X Crying Towel" while Hunt came up with a "Bre-X Salting Crew" ball cap. The entrepreneurs are using the Internet to promote and sell their products.
"Response has been absolutely excellent," said Thibault, who started selling the towels May 8. "People are having a real good chuckle."
The Yellowknife businessmen said the idea for the products came up while having discussions with friends about the Bre-X situation.
If anyone has been out of the solar system for the last couple of weeks, Bre-X is the company that reported it had the world's largest gold find.
Its stock soared from pennies to over $200 per share only to become worthless when an independent review of the Busang deposit in Indonesia showed there was no gold. Apparently gold was added to Bre-X samples from the property to boost their claims.
"We made the hats last week and I went into some news groups (on the Internet) saying we're offering the caps for sale," Hunt said. "The e-mail started flooding in. People were buying them sight unseen."
On Tuesday he said people from England, Toronto and Tulsa, Okla., had already ordered hats. Hunt has also received phone calls about the product from Forbes magazine and the Globe and Mail.
Thibault said he is expanding his product line to include golf towels, bath towels and T-shirts.
His web site is illustrative of the humor behind the products' design.
"Got a friend who bought a load of shares and can only use them in the outhouse?" the web page asks. "Well ... you need the Official Bre-X Crying Towel.
"Get them while they're listed."
Neither Hunt nor Thibault owned any of the once valuable stock. |