Farewell to rock star who blew the whistle on mining’s biggest scandal
by Peter Ker · Australian Financial ReviewPeter KerResources reporter
Oct 28, 2026 – 5.00am
About 92 minutes into the Matthew McConaughey film Gold, the scriptwriters should have included a small cameo for Roger Townend.
Released in 2016, the film is loosely based on the infamous Canadian mineral explorer Bre-X, which enacted a $C6 billion fraud upon investors between 1996 and 1997 by claiming to have found the world’s biggest gold deposit in the Indonesian jungle.
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Peter KerResources reporterPeter Ker covers resource companies for The Australian Financial Review, based in Melbourne. Connect with Peter on Twitter. Email Peter at pker@afr.com
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