ABSTRACT
On United Nations Day, 24 October 1985, Pieter de Koning, Manager of the Buffer Stock of the International Tin Council, informed Ted Jordan, Chairman of the Committee of the London Metal Exchange, that he was no longer in a position to meet his financial obligations.1 Overnight, £900 million in paper assets vanished and the price of tin dropped from £8,900 to £5,500 per tonne. Bankruptcies of dealers and miners followed in its wake and the economy hardest hit of all, Bolivia, sought relief in the production of cocaine.
