Bre-X Minerals, a Canadian mining company claimed that it had discovered a huge deposit of gold, deep in the Indonesian jungle, which triggered a scramble to invest in the firm.  But question remains about the mysterious death of  Michael de Guzman, the company’s chief geologist, as on the morning of 19 March 1997 he boarded a helicopter flight to travel to a remote jungle site in Indonesia. This journey he has previously made many times, to a place where he had reported finding huge deposits of gold. But this time he never arrived. Twenty minutes into the journey, a rear door on the left-hand side of the helicopter opened and de Guzman had gone plummeting to his death into the dense Indonesian foliage below. De Guzman born in the Philippines on Valentine’s Day. 1956, had four wives all at the same time across different countries. He enjoyed karaoke, beer and had a habit of visiting strip clubs and wearing gold, believed he could make his fortune in Indonesia. In the 1990s Indonesia was seen as a land of opportunity for gold prospectors with its rich natural mineral sources.  Dutchman John Felderhof, known to many as the Indiana Jones of geologists, controlled operations on the ground and made it clear he wanted a project partner to help with the search  fellow geologist and fried de Guzman. Both Felderhof and de Guzman and their team only had until 18 December 1993 to drill test holes to see if the gold was really there. That was when the exploration licence granted to them by the Indonesian government expired. With only couple of days to go before the final deadline, and two holes dug, there was still no sign of gold. Then, according to Wilton, de Guzman, suddenly told Walsh he knew the precise spot they needed to drill the location had come to him in a dream. The team drilled a third hole exactly where de Guzman had pinpointed and struck gold. A further fourth hole brought with it the prospect of an even greater find. For the next three years, work at the site continued, as estimates of the amount of gold that was there grew, so did the number of investors. The Price of shares in Bre-X Minerals began to soar, from 20 cents to CAN $ 280 ( US$206, £163) making the company valuation at CAN $6bn (£3.5bn). There was essentially a gold rush as many people in Canadian small town joined the gold rush, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars of their savings. Before agreeing to take on all the financial risks associated with precious metals mining,

Johnb Felderhof, believed a remote site in Busang, in the province of East Kalimantan on the Island of Borneo, was a goldmine waiting to be exploited. But he needed cash to move  forward. In April 1993, Felderhof struck a deal with David Walsh, of Bre-X Minerals CEO. Walsh was to sell the dream to potential investors of a site laden with buried treasure.

Freeport-McMoRan needed to do its own checks. Its geologists were sent to drill two holes in the Busang deposit and double-checking if gold is present by drilling next to the place it has been found and taking rock samples. This was standard practice in mining, but Bre-X Minerals never followed this procedure.

The twinning samples were sent off to two different labs, but the results came back the same – stating no traces of gold could be found.

Walsh and Felderhof were informed of the new data by Freeport-McMoRan. They instructed de Guzman who was at the convention in Toronto to return to Busang to meet the Freeport-McMoRan team to explain. De Guzman travelled from Canada via Singpore, where he spent time with his wife Genie, with whom he had a son and a daughter. De Guzman spent his last evening in the city of Balikpapan, more than 100 miles (161km) south of the Busang mine, with Bre-X Minerals employee Rudy Vega who was part of the company’s Filipino exploration team and had been due to travel with de Guzman to face Freeport-McMoRan.Vega later told Indonesian police, the two of them went to a karaoke bar, After returning to his hotel room, de Guzman attempted to take his own life, vega said.

The next morning de Guzman and Vega travelled by helicopter to Samarinda, another city closer to Busang, De Guzman then re-boarded the helicopter to  travel to the mine but Vega did not join him.

Two men were with de Guzman on the flight a maintenance technician and a pilot an Indonesian air force pilot. In the photographs of the body found in the jungle, Molino says  he saw bruises on the neck and concluded de Guzman had died by strangulation. “When he was dead, he must have been thrown out of the chopper in the jungle to make it appear he committed suicide”, Molino said. Geologist  Mansur Geiger- a friend of Genie de Guzman, says she had told him her husband was still alive and had escaped to South America. Geiger believes he is now living in the Cayman Islands. Could de Guzman have arranged to pick up a body to take on the final flight to fake his own death? Or did he even boarded the helicopter.