Jean-Raymond Boulle

Jean-Raymond Boulle
Born

1950 (age 65–66)


Mauritius

Residence Monaco
Nationality British
Alma mater University of Dallas
Known for founder of Diamond Fields

Jean-Raymond Boulle (born 1950) is the founder of Diamond Fields (which Inco purchased for US$4.3 billion), 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 in 1950,[1] attended Marist Brothers Rondebosch school in Cape Town and later the University of Dallas.

Career

Boulle worked for the De Beers diamond mining cartel for ten years, in Zaire, Sierra Leone and Antwerp, Belgium, and then established Boulle Inc. in Dallas, Texas, US.

In 1984 he began 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.

Boulle was chairman, founder and CEO as well as a major shareholder of Diamond Fields (Diamond Fields Resources Inc. TSE:DFR)[2] 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 was estimated to contain 141 million tonnes at 1.6% nickel.[3] 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.[4]

Boulle's next company, Diamond Fields International is involved in sea floor mining.[5][6][7] with interests in mining deposits around the world.

His Boulle Mining Group[8] is headquartered in Luxembourg and in 1995 founded American Mineral Fields (later renamed Adastra Minerals), 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 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[9] 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,[10] the Australian Securities Exchange listed[11] owners of the Toliara Sands[12] titanium deposit in Madagascar.

Together with the Government of Mauritius, Boulle is one of the three controlling shareholders of Omnicane,[13] a publicly listed company on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Omnicane owns sugarcane plantations in Mauritius and produces refined sugar. Omnicane also 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 in South Africa, Namibia, Liberia, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Finland, Canada, and Brazil.

In 1996 Boulle and Robert Friedland presented an autism foundation in Atlanta with 80,000 Diamond Fields shares, worth $3.2 million at that time.

Since 1996, Boulle has made numerous ongoing donations and contributions to charity, hospitals, museums, animal conservation, bird conservation[14] 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.[15]

On 2 December 2014, the Boulle Group's Tendyne[16] start-up company announced the world's first[17] 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).[18] Abbott Laboratories thereby acquired the remaining shares of Tendyne[16] 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.

Personal life

Boulle is a British citizen, and lives in Monaco.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Gerard Prunier (31 December 2008). Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe. Oxford University Press. pp. 140–142. ISBN 978-0-19-970583-2. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  2. ↑ Diamond Fields Resources Inc.
  3. ↑ Voisey's Bay Discovery
  4. ↑ Diamond Fields International Site
  5. ↑ Metalliferous Sediments in the Atlantis II Deep
  6. ↑ Kiel Institute for World Economy : Red Sea basins
  7. ↑ Atlantis II Red Sea Deeps
  8. ↑ Boulle Mining Group
  9. ↑ Greenland Gold Resources
  10. ↑ World Titanium Resources
  11. ↑ World Titanium Resources Listing ASX:WTR
  12. ↑ Toliara Sands
  13. ↑ Omnicane
  14. ↑ 12 March 2016 Saint Brandon's Mauritius Animal Conservation Press Conference
  15. ↑ Sierra Leone Orders, Decorations and Medals
  16. 1 2 Tendyne - A Structural Heart Disease Company/
  17. ↑ Successful Human Heart #TVMI Implants
  18. ↑ Abbott Laboratories acquires remaining stocks of Tendyne Holdings Inc. via Jean Boulle Medtech Ltd., for USD 250 Million
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