Diamond Fields comes up trumps

Diamond Fields comes up trumps

Ironically, just a year after the Omai debacle, one of Friedland's other mining vehicles, Diamond Fields Resources (DFR), struck rich in Labrador, Canada, with the discovery, not of diamonds, but a huge base metals (mainly nickel) deposit on the territory of the Innu and Inuit. The Voisey's Bay find has been described as the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world. Whether or not Friedland was ever seriously tempted himself to put together a consortium to exploit the deposit, it was clear from early days that DFR required the backing of one or other of Canada's major companies. After flirting with the nickel miner Falconbridge, Friedland eventually arranged a takeover of DFR by Inco. The deal cost the Canadian company US$4.3 billion, but Friedland personally gained Inco shares and other benefits worth more than US$ 5 million. [Roger Moody "The Mercenary Miner", Multinational Monitor, Washington DC, June 1997]. In the stroke of a pen, Friedland had become the biggest single shareholder in the world's biggest nickel producer (though he later sold most his holding).