What Became of the Crow?: The Inside Story of the Greatest Gold Discovery in History Paperback – 11 January 2021

I have rarely seen a book on the mining industry. “What Became of the Crow” by Robert Moriarty is a no-holds-barred account of the dealings— including the dirty ones—and the psychology and personalities of those in the mining industry. I met Mr. Moriarty on a trip to the Beaton’s Creek project of Novo Resources. The story is written with Novo, Dr. Quinton Hennigh, the Pilbara area, and a well-known Australian mining entrepreneur, Mark Creasy, as the fulcrum.“Quinton Hennigh’s primary strength is his uncanny ability to think laterally; to view things from a different perspective,” says Mr. Moriarty. No wonder, “you love him, or you hate him.” Dr. Hennigh has theorized about the genesis of gold in the Pilbara area, where Novo controls an extensive land package and, now, a producing mine.

This is a remarkable book, which should be on every investor's shelf alongside Nobody Knows Anything and Basic Investing in Resource Stocks. Like these other titles, it allows the reader to enjoy Moriarty's humor as well as to benefit from his shrewdness, genius, wisdom, and experience. Unlike these books--and unlike any other book of which I am aware--it provides a look at the what goes on behind the scenes as one of the few honest and ingeniously run junior mining firms makes its way through a gauntlet of adversities, and of attempted sabotage and predation (by a broad cast of carnival characters) to the rarely-attained goal of successful production. The story provides a rare education in many respects. Although the scammy nature of most figures in the junior mining business (the 98% of managers, who serve as ballast for the industry, and as foils against which for the great owner-operators to shine) are well known, I was surprised to see the instances (1) of an otherwise shrewd participant sabotaging himself, so as to bilk others out of a fast buck, due to a zero-sum mentality and (2) of serially successful billionaire magnates whose empires suffer because the functionaries beneath them are too jealous, petty, and incompetent not to mess things up (giving rise to the principle, suggested on page 256, that "the bigger the company" is, "the dumber the decisions" are).Although the book is of general interest for these reasons, it is of particular interest as a guide both to Quinton Hennigh and to Novo Resources. Hennigh does appear to be the world's greatest and most ingenious living geologists. Pages 132-36 and 210 highlight his role in pinpointing the Swan Zone at Fosterville and at making Kirkland Lake the historic success that it became. Other passages, in numerous chapters, of course highlight his genius in recognizing the nature, likely origin, and extent of deposits in the Pilbara, and his shrewdness in assembling land packages and overcoming a variety of challenges--technical, regulatory, and predatory. As Bob Moriarty has demonstrated in numerous articles on his website, 321gold, Hennigh has also provided remarkable results to companies that he serves as an advisor: Hennigh will tweak an exploration program, by saying "drill here instead," "drill deeper," etc., and remarkable discoveries result, along with remarkable success for the companies he serves.A couple of years ago I mistakenly regarded Hennigh as an example of a brilliant geologist who lacked business sense and hence should be directing exploration programs rather than running a company. I was completely wrong, and am sorry and embarrassed to have held this view. I held it partly because such geologists are common and partly because, at the time, he kept trying to work toward a 43-101 resource estimate for nuggety deposits that clearly were not suited to such an estimate and hence would simply need to be mined. (A comment heard at the time from multiple commentators was along the lines of "He has X million dollars. Why in the hell doesn't he just mine it?") This book reveals why he did not simply start mining: As it turns out, Australian regulators will not grant a mining permit unless the applicant submits a compelling resource estimate (which, for the Karratha and Egina deposits, will have to be accomplished by way of the "bulk sampling" that amounts to mining)! Hennigh has done a brilliant and exceedingly clever job of moving ahead on all fronts in spite of this catch-22 and of the array of other remarkable challenges. He does--as Bob Moriarty has insisted--play three-dimensional chess, and he is brilliant at it. Yet, without the inside story, which this book furnishes, an investor might have no inkling that this is in fact the case. Thanks to this book and to Moriarty's other writings, investors can identify Hennigh as one of the top one-percent of owner-operators: someone on the same level as, say, Ross Beaty or Robert Friedland. In the case of Hennigh, this information is especially useful, because the market does not presently recognize him as such: rather than commanding a premium, his firms are presently in the doghouse and, accordingly, undervalued. The companies run by the world's foremost geologist are on sale. (Disclosure: I or family members hold shares in Novo Resources, Irving Resources, and two other companies with which Hennigh is associated--New Found Gold and White Rock Minerals.)As useful as this book is for assessing Hennigh, and hence for profiting by following his investment actions and geological analyses, it is perhaps most useful as a guide to Novo Resources and its holdings. The market misunderstands both the company and its land packages. This circumstance creates and opportunity. How large is that opportunity? A careful reading of the book will help the reader toward a well-informed opinion. Based on the extent of the conglomerate reefs, and on the economics of using sorting machines to concentrate the ore at Egina, it would appear likely that Novo commands the largest and lowest-cost gold deposits on earth.How many junior mining companies have books written about them? Has any junior become the subject of an excellent, full-length book by a great writer? It is no accident that Novo Resources is the first. Novo and Hennigh fully deserve this treatment. They do not need it, however: Hennigh, Hennigh's team, and the economics of the deposits will take care both of Novo and of Hennigh. The real beneficiaries, then, are investors who read the book.

Amazing story about the multi-year effort of Dr. Hennigh to develop a theory on how to recover gold from the goldfields of Western Australia that have been known about since the late 1800s but never seriously developed. Now after difficult negotiations with a multitude of "characters", his company Novo has poured its first gold bar. Quite a tale with added intrigue and humor by Bob Moriarity. How the inside dealing of many in the mining industry is exposed for all to see. A great story both on Novo and how the junior mining industry sometimes overcomes massive odds to create wealth for shareholders.

This is a somewhat irreverent look at life in the gold mining industry, told by one of the most colourful characters in the gold space. It focuses on junior miner Novo Resources, the flagship company of respected geologist Quinton Hennigh, and their attempts to identify and commercialise a major new gold discovery in Western Australia.The book is an easy read (about 4 hours) and at times will leave you laughing out loud or with jaw fully dropped regarding the shenanigans in the world of gold mining. Whilst the focus is primarily Novo & Hennigh's story, and sometimes goes into some project-specific technical detail, it is also compelling as a people story and very entertaining! It would be a great read for anyone who likes a good yarn, but should be compulsory for anyone investing in junior precious metal miners or contemplating a career in the industry! Eye opening and entertaining, this is a cracking example of truth being far more interesting than fiction!

Read this book on the weekend... Bob Moriarty is one of the frankest writers I have read... he doesn't hold back any punches.... as someone who personally knows several characters in this book, and as a former financial journalist and stockbroker from the very Western Australia Bob writes about, I can confirm he has captured the zeigeist of the frontier and provided a very entertaining and incredibly inexpensive education in mining investment and in particular in what may one day be, as he writes, the greatest gold discovery ever... it might be early days but the promise of the future for Novo can be found in Bob's insightful masterpiece

Whenever Bob Moriarty writes a book I buy it as soon as I can. I had read his previous books on the resource sector and they had served me very well. This latest book, 'What became of the crow' is no different from his other books. It is a page turner to say the least and is also a cash course in gaining an understanding of the crazy world of resource exploration. The Novo Resources story, as told in the book is compelling because it is being told by a man who has been on the inside of every twist and turn from the very start.Aside from being a great yarn it is also a mine of information for any investor in the resource sector. The final chapter entitled 'It's not rocket science' is pure gold providing investors with knowledge that they won't find at any business school. I thoroughly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a great read and especially to those who want to get a handle on investing in resource stocks.