ABSTRACT
By late 1853 the euphoria of investing in overseas gold bubble companies had begun to dissipate. British-funded Californian companies had experienced difficulties in securing mining leases, in selecting staff with appropriate experience and with inefficient to virtually useless crushing and gold recovery methods. These woes only increased with the proliferation of British-funded Australian ventures, where precisely the same problems were now being encountered. This chapter examines the frustrations experienced by shareholders and speculators alike in trying to ascertain what the true operational and financial position of a gold bubble company was at any particular time.
