A Dollar for the Richest Gold Mine in US History
Peter Munk (Barrick photo) The richest gold mine in US history has yielded 45+ million ounces since 1987, transforming its owner from a small player to #1 in the world. Yet a 50% stake in the same asset was valued at just a dollar a year earlier. He’d already lived an amazing life, but Peter Munk was new to the mining sector. At 16, Munk escaped Nazi occupied Hungary in 1944 on the Kastner train of 35 cattle wagons. After WW2, he moved to Canada and studied electrical engineering. Claritone, Munk’s first company, went viral in 1964 building beautiful home stereos endorsed by Frank Sinatra and later TVs. As quickly as Claritone took off it went broke over a troubled factory in Nova Scotia. Munk and partner David Gilmour dusted off and founded the largest resort in Fiji from a raw plot of oceanfront land. The venture exploded to 54 resorts in Australia and the South Pacific at its peak before fetching a $128 million sale price. Flush from Fiji, Munk returned to Canada in 1979 with design