Birchall

"After Clairtone, Peter Munk would not do a deal unless he had control of the operation—even if he did not have the required 50percent-plus shares. That was the situation with Fiji and it is the situation with his business ventures now, in the mid-1990s. Birchall explains the Fiji control arrangements: Control has always been achieved on an equitable basis. So far as initial SPP was concerned, when we got the original funding from Slater Walker, Peter and David probably had about 35 percent of the company. And, let’s say, Slater Walker another 25. It was also understood that Slater Walker was going to sell off to other institutions like P & O and the rest. So the objective there was always going to be that Peter and David would not have a large-percentage shareholding but they would have control. I was responsible for preparing monthly management. statements that were sent to all"

"When I reviewed all of this a year and a half later with Birchall and Gilmour and Khashoggi, I said, “You know, we never lost so much money quicker. And we're smart guys, where did we go wrong?” I went through every single thing I’d done in Viking and actually had a full review. We found nothing wrong with our decision-making process. We'd do absolutely the whole thing over again. And yet we totally screwed up in eighteen months. We lost a big bundle of money. We had our tax losses and some other leftovers, and eventually we got part of our money back."

"Renabie required about $15 million for the rehabilitation of its mine and ore-processing equipment. How did Barrick and Campbell raise that kind of money? It was Ned Goodman, one of Canada’s leading financiers, who had the answer. “Ned Goodman is as bright as anybody at devising things,” says Birchall. “He invented a gold royalty interest scheme which we then publicly offered. By a miracle we sold it, and raised the $15 million. It was the Barrick—Cullaton Gold ‘Trust. When that was done we had $15 million and a half-interest in a gold mine that was going to be rehabilitated.”"

"It seemed that there were very few good investment opportunities in mines already producing gold. Munk and Birchall did, however, find a role model: Echo Bay, a new North American gold mining company in operation in the Northwest Territories. It had good reserves, and its management intended to acquire additional production facilities: it also had institutional investors, because the mine was in production creating gold bars. So Echo Bay became the initial model for Barrick Gold."

"I've often made big initial strategic decisions on my own. I've had lovely partners like Gilmour and Birchall, but somehow I still feel they look to me as the person responsible for coming up with the strategic initiatives. When the proverbial hits the fan I have to come up with the right response, and for that you need your mental stability when the pressure is the greatest. With the things I’ve done, I’ve had to be tough, because otherwise you can be destroyed. Being out in the fresh air and doing physical things and being removed from business environments has helped me enormously in coping."

"The reality check is that I call my colleagues. That used to be Gilmour, now it’s also Birchall, always, for the last thirty years. It’s also Greg Wilkins, and others whose judgement we trust. Certainly when it comes to Barrick it’s Smith. Then I pitch them and then usually they go along. But after all, their destiny is tied up with their decision so they are just as involved as I am. Then we have another meeting and we have a fifth meeting and eventually we come up with a platform and a position. We listen to each other and talk, and then boom, we go. That's how it works."