Frustrated promoter Pexim `quitting the business’

Mark Twain’s satirical observation that October is a bad month for the stock market rang true once again as the Vancouver Stock Exchange ushered in the month by tallying up its worst trading day in eight years. Although local analysts quite properly attribute the malaise gripping the VSE to a broad range of factors, it did not pass unnoticed that Oct. 1 was the first trading day after Murray Pezim announced he is “quitting the business” to “enjoy life” in Arizona.

The outspoken promoter and mine financier — best known for his role in the Hemlo and Eskay Creek gold discoveries — insists he is frustrated with trying to do business while awaiting a decision on the outcome of a recent hearing in front of the British Columbia Securities Commission (T.N.M., Sept. 24/90).

The central charge is an alleged breach of fiduciary duty by Pezim (and other directors of Prime Resources) during a period in 1989 when Calpine Resources was drilling the Eskay Creek project, north of Stewart, B.C.

“It’s just not worth the fight anymore,” Pezim said in a telephone interview from his retreat in Scottsdale, Ariz. “If I’m not fit to be a director, then you might as well close down the Vancouver Stock Exchange.”

Pezim had hoped for an immediate decision from the commission so that he could proceed with plans to launch Prime Equities as a public entity containing his group of junior companies. But Pezim said his new financial backer — a major mining concern — isn’t prepared to commit until he is cleared of the charges brought forward by Wade Nesmith, the province’s superintendent of brokers.

If he is not cleared, the workaholic Pezim risks losing his trading privileges and he might also be prohibited from acting as a director or officer of a public company.

“I can’t get an underwriting done and I’ve had to lay off all kinds of people because we can’t raise money for exploration,” Pezim said. “He (Nesmith) is literally destroying our industry. And I’m also blaming the government now for not checking things out before allowing this power-hungry individual to go so far.”

Pezim’s former partner, Arthur Clemiss, has already left Vancouver with his family to retire in balmy Grand Cayman. Pezim’s “retirement” plans aren’t viewed by many industry observers as being quite so final, although few doubt his resolve to remain pool side in sunny Arizona at least until the commission hands down its decision.