African Minerals Forum

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In his business dealings, Timis seems drawn to fragile, post-conflict states in West Africa. Another of his companies, African Petroleum, has offshore oil exploration leases in Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia.[x] Timis’ website carries claims about the corporate social responsibility and largesse of his companies, many of which have been refuted by the research of NMJD.[xi] The company benefits from numerous tax exemptions. [xii] It also lavishes money on Sierra Leonean media that generally sing Timis’ praises.[xiii] Frank Timis is not plagued by false modesty; his website contains lofty tributes from other people he has charmed over the years. Minkailu Mansaray, now Sierra Leone’s Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, is quoted as saying, “The most heartening aspect of Mr Timis’ involvement in our country is the widespread and vigorous social responsibility programmes he has installed at African Minerals.” “Heartening” seems an odd word to describe Timis’ record of social responsibility in Sierra Leone. In April 2012, workers at African Minerals staged a peaceful protest over poor pay and working conditions and the Sierra Leonean police reacted by opening fire, killing one woman and injuring 11 other people.[xiv] An official inquiry by the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone found that the police “subjected the people of Bumbuna to inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment through severe beatings, kicking, molesting” and criticized the cozy but unclear relationship between the Sierra Leone police and the company. [xv] Cozy and unclear relationships and business dealings seem to have worked well for Frank Timis in Sierra Leone.

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Regal's Timis named in Romania organised crime investigation [link]

[link] And somewhere in a luxuriously appointed home in London, Vasile “Frank” Timis is cursing and pulling his hair out because a nerdy Swiss journalist’s persistence has just outfoxed him, causing his shareholders to lose millions of dollars, ruining his decade-long dream of polluting his former country for fun and profit.

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The Complete and True Story of Rosia Montana

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Frank Timiș, a Romanian-born Australian, founded a company, Gabriel Resources, in the Channel Island of Jersey in 1995.[7] Timiș negotiated with the Romanian state and, in 1996, they signed a contract with state-owned Regia Autonomă a Cuprului Deva for the creation of a joint venture (Eurogold Resources) for the exploitation of auriferous residues from previous exploitations.[7][8][9] Gabriel Resources was allowed to have 60% of the shares in the new company but, in a new protocol a year later, the Gabriel Resources stake was increased to 80%, while state's participation (through Minvest) was reduced to 18.8%,[9] while being still allowed to exploit just around the existing mine.[7] The company was renamed "Roșia Montană Gold Corporation" in 1999.[7] The extraction licenses owned by state-owned Minvest Deva were transferred to the joint venture[8] following a call by Minister of Industries Radu Berceanu in a letter that has since disappeared.[10] Between 1999 and 2000, the operating perimeter was increased from 12 km² to 20 km² and later 42 km².[7] In 2000, RMGC paid $20 million for a pre-feasibility study (done by American company Pincock Allen & Holt[9]) which resulted in an estimate of 8 million ounces of gold.[8] The company claimed to invest $250 million (raised from the stock market, banks and mutual funds) and it promised that within three years the project would create 25,000 jobs.[8] The Social Liberal Union has drifted away from its platform prior to the parliamentary elections and the Government approved a draft law regulating the conditions of participation, passing it to the Parliament for debate. This has sparked massive spontaneous protests still ongoing (see 2013 Romanian protests against the Roșia Montană Project) and the presidential candidate Crin Antonescu unexpectedly declared in a press conference that in his opinion the project should be rejected. The Prime Minister Victor Ponta has also digressed claiming that the Government has approved the bill to prevent being sued for compensations and the Parliament will definitely vote against it closing the subject.[11][12] Following this development, the Gabriel Resources shares have plummeted.[13]