ZANEX PAYS GELLER OVER $350 000
The Australian-based mining company Zanex, paid magician and
mentalist Uri Geller $US250,000 (over $A350,000) for his
advice on where to look for gold in the Solomon Islands and
near Maldon in Victoria. He was also granted an option
to take up 1,250,000 Zanex shares at 20c each by 5th June,
1987.
Zanex brought Uri Geller and his assistant Schipi Strang to
Australia in October, 1985. He was taken to the old gold
mining town of Maldon in central Victoria by Zanex director,
Peter Sterling. There Geller had long discussions with Zanex
geologist Alan Svansio it is believed Geller did not reveal
anything about the Maldon area not already known by
geologists.
Geller then visited the Solomon Islands for the opening of
Zanex's Mavu gold mine in November last year. Zanex
brought a twin-engine plane to the Solomon Islands at
considerable expense to fly Geller over the Solomon Islands.
Geller indicated three areas which he believed had
potential.
Uri Geller has no qualifications as a geologist but is a
talented magician with a reputation for being able to
convince people he has psychic powers.
Geller story continued
Uri Geller made international news in the early 1970s
with demonstrations of spoon bending, watch starting, and
alleged extra-sensory perception. Since then magicians such
as James Randi have shown his supposed metal bending
abilities are merely tricks accomplished by sleight of hand,
his claims of having been tested under rigorous scientific
conditions are false, and that his claimed "telepathic"
abilities are merely well-known magician's "mentalist "
tricks.
Psychologists such as Professor David Marks and Richard
Kammann have shown that Uri Geller has the same sensory
powers as any other normal human being, but state he is
trickier than most people in the way he uses them.
The latest book on Uri Geller was written by Australian
Skeptics magic consultant, Ben Harris. Titled "Gellerism
Revealed", its photos and accompanying text teach the reader
how to do Geller's tricks.
In the past couple of years, the media has carried articles
on Geller's latest claims of psychic prospecting. After
reading one of these articles, Zanex director Peter Sterling
met Uri Geller in London in May, 1985. He was impressed by
Geller and later in 1985 watched Geller perform on stage at
the Young President's Club in San Diego. About the same
time, Geller's stage act was observed by the Bay Area
Skeptics (San Francisco). After the performance Bay Area
Skeptics magician Bob Steiner met Geller, and the two
magicians posed for this photo. The Bay Area Skeptics then
watched Bob Steiner repeat Geller's act and explain how the
tricks were done. The Skeptics were not impressed with
Geller's claim.
Peter Sterling was impressed with Geller however, and
negotiated a fee of $US250,000 for Geller to come to
Australia and the Solomon Islands. Geller came to the
Solomon Islands after Zanex had already located a potential
gold mining area downstream from Gold Ridge on Guadalranal
Island in the Solomons. At the opening of Zanex's mine,
Geller entertained the guests with magic tricks and even
bent a spoon being held by the Prime Minister of the Solomon
Islands, Sir Peter Kenilorea.
Another Australian Skeptics magic consultant,
professional magician Tim Ellis, was briefed on the
matter. Tim was winner of the close-up magic award at the
twentieth Australian Convention of magicians in June this
year. Tim spent two hours with Peter Sterling showing how
Geller's tricks were only magic, but could not persuade
Sterling to his viewpoint.
Gary Wiseman in "People" magazine wrote that Geller has
located minerals for Britain's Rio-Tinto Zinc Corporation (RTZ),
and John Pinkney claimed that Geller's biggest client was
RTZ. RTZ have informed the Australian Skeptics in writing
that Geller has not been employed by them in any capacity.
The financial newspapers are reporting that several large
shareholders are seeking to have two of the current Zanex
directors replaced and another three elected.
One wonders if Geller foresaw these developments.
|
