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Between 1849 and 1853, shares in nearly 120 public companies to exploit the booming goldfields of California and Australia were offered to the British public. The companies were collectively capitalised at over £15 million, but in the end only some £1.75 million was raised between 42 of them, with only one company surviving what the newspapers of
List of contents
List of Figures, List of Tables, Preface, 1. An Overview of the 'Gold Bubble' Companies, 2. Getting Started: The Company Promoters, 3. Forming the Companies, 4. Government Policies and Mining Laws, 5. Operations in California, 6. Operations in Australia, 7. Shareholder Activists, 8. The Only Success Story, 9. The Last Hurrah, Conclusion, Appendices, Bibliography, Index
About the author
After a career in geology, the latter part researching old gold mines as pathfinders to new deposits, John Woodland turned to writing about them, in particular the disastrous phase of British company gold mining in the 1850s, the reasons behind its almost universal failure, and what lessons were learned.
Summary
Between 1849 and 1853, shares in nearly 120 public companies to exploit the booming goldfields of California and Australia were offered to the British public. The companies were collectively capitalised at over £15 million, but in the end only some £1.75 million was raised between 42 of them, with only one company surviving what the newspapers of
