Jean-Raymond Boulle

Jean-Raymond Boulle is the founder of Diamond Fields Resources which was purchased by Inco for 4.3 Billion Dollars, Diamond Fields International, Ltd., America Mineral Fields, Inc., and Titanium Resources Group, Ltd., four publicly traded companies with deposits of nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, titanium and diamonds.

Early life and education

Jean-Raymond Boulle was born in Mauritius, attended Marist Brothers Rondebosch school in Cape Town and, later in his career, the University of Dallas.

Boulle worked for the De Beers diamond mining cartel for ten years, in Zaire, Sierra Leone and Antwerp Belgium and went on to establish Boulle Inc. in Dallas, Texas.

In 1984 he started exploring for diamonds, first in Minnesota, then in Arkansas. In 1987 he formed Arkansas Diamond Development Co., to carry out exploration work on the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

Career

Boulle was Chairman, founder C.E.O. and a major shareholder of Diamond Fields (Diamond Fields Resources Inc. TSE:DFR)[1] which commenced trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange on April 6, 1993 and, in late 1994, discovered nickel, copper and cobalt ore bodies at Voisey's Bay Mine in Labrador, Canada. The Voisey's Bay Mine deposit is estimated to contain 141 million tonnes at 1.6% nickel.[2] Boulle and Robert Friedland worked together in Diamond Fields and, in 1996, the Voisey's Bay Mine Project was purchased by Inco for CND$4.3 billion.[3] Boulle's successor company, Diamond Fields International is involved in sea floor mining.[4][5][6] with interests in mining deposits around the world.

His Boulle Mining Group[7] is headquartered in Luxembourg and in 1995 it founded American Mineral Fields (later renamed Adastra Minerals) which was listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Adastra Minerals developed mining projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a joint venture with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to re-treat the Kolwezi tailings project. Adastra Minerals was merged in August 2006 with First Quantum Minerals, a mining company with dual listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.

In 2001, Boulle's Mining Group Luxembourg acquired the Sierra Rutile Project (a producer of natural rutile) and of the Sierra Minerals SML Bauxite Mine in Sierra Leone, West Africa which became part of Titanium Resources Group, taken public on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market in August 2005.

His Mining Group's subsidiary company, Greenland Gold Resources Ltd[8] is in Greenland exploring for nickel, copper, cobalt, Platinum group elements, titanium and graphite.

Boulle Mining Group Luxembourg is the largest shareholder in World Titanium Resources,[9] the Australian Securities Exchange listed[10] owners of the Toliara Sands[11] titanium deposit in Madagascar.

Together with the Government of Mauritius, Boulle is one of the three controlling shareholders of Omnicane [12] which is a publicly listed company on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Omnicane owns sugarcane plantations in Mauritius and produces refined sugar. In terms of electricity generation Omnicane generates around 40% of the island's electricity needs.

Boulle's companies have conducted mining and exploration operations for gold, copper, nickel, zinc, and diamonds and other precious and semi-precious stones, globally, including South Africa, Namibia, Liberia, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Finland, Canada, and Brazil.

In 1996 Boulle and Robert Friedland presented in Atlanta a local autism foundation with 80.000 Diamond Fields shares, worth $3.2 million at that time.

Since 1996, Boulle has made ongoing donations and contributions to charity, hospitals, museums, animal conservation, bird conservation and to the World Wide Fund For Nature.

In 2007, Boulle was made a Commander of the Order of the Rokel, the highest order of merit to be awarded by the country of Sierra Leone. The award was made to Boulle by His Excellency Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabba, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.[13]

On 2 December 2014, the Boulle Group's Tendyne[14] start-up company announced the world's first[15] successful Human Heart Mitral Valve implants at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England.

On 8 September 2015, Jean Boulle Medtech Ltd., a Jean Boulle Group (www.jeanboullegroup.com) medical technology company and founding investor of Tendyne Holdings Inc. announced that Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) had closed its acquisition of Tendyne (www.tendyne.com).[16] Abbott Laboratories thereby acquired the remaining shares of Tendyne[14] it did not already own for US$250 million plus potential future payments tied to regulatory milestones. This acquisition culminated a relationship that began when Jean Boulle Medtech welcomed Abbott Laboratories as an early strategic investor in Tendyne. Jean Boulle Medtech worked with Tendyne's most recent investor, Apple Tree Partners, in helping to complete the transaction.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Diamond Fields Resources Inc.
  2. ↑ Voisey's Bay Discovery
  3. ↑ Diamond Fields International Site
  4. ↑ Metalliferous Sediments in the Atlantis II Deep
  5. ↑ Kiel Institute for World Economy : Red Sea basins
  6. ↑ Atlantis II Red Sea Deeps
  7. ↑ Boulle Mining Group
  8. ↑ Greenland Gold Resources
  9. ↑ World Titanium Resources
  10. ↑ World Titanium Resources Listing ASX:WTR
  11. ↑ Toliara Sands
  12. ↑ Omnicane
  13. ↑ Sierra Leone Orders, Decorations and Medals
  14. 1 2 Tendyne - A Structural Heart Disease Company/
  15. ↑ World's First Successful Human Heart #TVMI Implants
  16. ↑ Abbott Laboratories acquires remaining stocks of Tendyne Holdings Inc. via Jean Boulle Medtech Ltd., for USD 250 Million

External links

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