Jean-Raymond Boulle

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Jean-Raymond Boulle
Born (1950-10-10) 10 October 1950 (age 73)
Mauritius
Known forDiscoverer of Voisey's Bay Mine
SpouseNathalie Anne Parvin (m. 1990)
Children2 sons

Jean-Raymond Boulle, COR (born 10 October 1950)[1] is a Monaco-based Mauritian businessman, the founder of four publicly traded companies with deposits of nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, titanium and diamonds.[2]

Career[edit]

Early career[edit]

Boulle worked for the De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC) for ten years, in Zaire, Sierra Leone and Antwerp, Belgium, and then established Boulle Inc. in Dallas, Texas.[3]

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.[4]

Diamond Fields and Voisey's Bay Mine[edit]

Boulle was chairman, founder and CEO as well as a major shareholder of Diamond Fields Resources (TSE:DFR)[5] which commenced trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange on 6 April 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.[6] Boulle and Robert Friedland worked together in the vehicle and, in 1996, the Voisey's Bay Mine Project was purchased by Inco for CND$4.3 billion.[5][7] Boulle's next company, Diamond Fields International is involved in sea floor mining with interests in mining deposits around the world,.[8]

American Mineral Fields[edit]

His Boulle Mining Group 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 purchased in August 2006 by First Quantum Minerals, a mining company then with dual listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange[9] and the London Stock Exchange (until 31 May 2016).[10] In 2001, Boulle 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.[11]

Greenland Gold Resources and Greenland Anorthosite[edit]

His mining group's subsidiary company, Greenland Gold Resources Ltd[12] is in Greenland exploring for nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements, titanium and graphite.[13] His other Greenland Company, Greenland Anorthosite,[14] has attracted co-investment from the Danish national investment fund Vækstfonden, the Greenland State investment company Greenland Venture A/S and the Greenlandic pension fund SISA.[15]

Tendyne Holdings[edit]

In December 2014, Boulle's company Tendyne Holdings Inc. announced the first successful human Mitral Valve implant at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England.[16][17]

In September 2015, an agreement was reached with Abbott Laboratories to acquire Tendyne Holdings Inc.for a total consideration of US$400 million ($250M plus regulatory-based milestones), excluding Abbott Laboratories' existing 10% of the company. [18]

In February 2020, the Tendyne transcatheter mitral heart valve implant which Boulle's Tendyne Holdings Inc. had developed received CE Mark approval from the European Union and became the first commercially available mitral valve replacement technology.[19][20]

Trained Therapeutix Discovery[edit]

'Trained immunity': Boulle's company Trained Therapeutix Discovery and its co-founders Professor Mihai Netea and Leo Joosten have revealed that the innate immune systems have adaptive characteristics. This de facto innate immune memory was coined 'trained immunity' by Mihai Netea.[21][22][23]

In 2022, Boulle and the Spanish Society of Immunology (Sociedad Española de Immunologia) (“SEI”) founded the Boulle-SEI Awards. The Boulle -SEI International Awards have been founded to acknowledge and support life changing work of today's health care and life sciences community.[24]

World Titanium Resource[edit]

Boulle Mining Group Luxembourg was the largest shareholder in World Titanium Resources,[25] the Australian Securities Exchange listed[26] discoverers and owners of the Toliara Sands[27] titanium deposit in Madagascar. World Titanium Resources was delisted from ASX on 30 January 2017 and is now privately owned as World Titane Holdings Limited.[28][29] In December 2017, Base Resources signed a $75m agreement to acquire an 85% interest in the Toliara Sands project in Madagascar from World Titane Holdings Limited.[30][31]

Omnicane[edit]

Together with the National Pension Fund and the Sugar investment Trust of Mauritius, Boulle is one of the major shareholders of Omnicane,[32] a publicly listed company on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. Omnicane owns sugarcane plantations in Mauritius and produces refined sugar. Omnicane also generates around 30% of the island's electricity for the Grid and 40% of the country's renewable bagasse-based energy.[33][34]

Raphael Fishing Company[edit]

Boulle is the majority shareholder in the Raphael Fishing Company a 95-year-old company which made legal history in 2008 when it was adjudged a Permanent Grant by the United Kingdom Privy Council on the Thirteen Islands of St Brandon (Cargados Carajos). The Permanent Grant was confirmed by the UK Privy Council in 2008, based on an earlier Permanent Lease (999-year lease) dating back to 1901.[35]

Other work[edit]

In November 2012, entertainment industry media outlet Variety reported that The Jean Boulle Group own the adaptation rights for the 1969 counterculture classic film Easy Rider originally released by Columbia Pictures and were part of a consortium including Maurice Fadida's Kodiak Pictures, Defiant Studios' Eric B. Fleischman.[36]

Boulle is Vice Chairman of the Board of directors of the US based Corporate Council on Africa.[37] Corporate Council on Africa is the 'leading U.S. business association focused solely on connecting business interests between the United States and Africa. CCA uniquely represents a broad cross-section of member companies from small and medium-sized businesses to multinationals as well as U.S. and African firms.'[38]

In 1999 and 2000, Boulle was a 'prime mover in the creation of America's primary governing law on trade with Africa: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)'.[39] The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides duty-free treatment to goods of designated sub-Saharan African countries (SSAs) and includes Mauritius. The African Growth and Opportunity Act program promotes economic growth through good governance and free markets. It covers non-textile as well as textile goods and was most recently re-authorized to September 30, 2025.[40]

In 2002, Boulle sponsored and promoted Mauritius as a venue and helped to organise and contributed to the Second US-SSA AGOA Forum on 13 January 2003.[41]

Conservation[edit]

2011 Mauritius Kestrel in Boulle's Kestrel Valley, Mauritius[42]

Cargados Carajos[edit]

At the request of the Mauritius Government in February 1997, the World Bank, together with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, financed and produced a Management Plan for Saint Brandon in 1998. The World Bank Management Plan recommended the creation of the ''Marine Protected Area of Saint Brandon'' based on the Great Barrier Reef Model.

The Mauritian Government's (Ministry of Shipping, Rodrigues and Outer Islands) Blue Print on the Cargados Carajos Group of Islands (Saint Brandon) in 2004 recommended that government apply to the World Heritage Committee for the inclusion of Saint Brandon in the World Heritage List. (See Page 18, Section 6 (d))

In April 2016, Boulle's Jean Boulle Group funded and organised a seven-day fact-finding mission in the Mascarene Islands for three of the world's conservation experts to Île Raphael, one of the Thirteen Islands of St. Brandon held in permanent grant by the centenarian Raphael Fishing Company[43][44] in the Cargados Carajos on the Atoll of St Brandon:[45][46] Professor Henk Bauwman[47] (Ecotoxicology, Environmental Pollution, Bird Ecology); Professor Tony Martin[48] (world's foremost expert on marine mammals) and Dr. Nick Cole[49] (herpetologist; MWF Islands Restoration Manager). These experts inspected the St Brandon islands to raise awareness about the need to protect their unique biodiversity and to investigate, for the longer term, the effects of plastic and heavy metal pollution in the Indian Ocean.[50] The St. Brandon Archipelago has been declared an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International.[51]

Mahebourg[edit]

In 2020, in the aftermath of the MV Wakashio oil spill, the Jean Boulle Group enabled the emergency rescue[52] of three species of rare reptiles (lesser night gecko, Bojer's skink -Gongylomorphus bojerii (Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)), Bouton's skink -Cryptoblepharus boutonii) from Mauritius and transported them to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey. Moving the reptiles to Jersey offered a lifeline in establishing assurance populations of these animals and their unique genes, well away from the disaster zone until the long-term impacts of the MV Wakashio oil spill are fully understood.[53][54]

Controversy[edit]

Boulle's America Mineral Fields was associated, together with other multinational companies, with allegedly profiting from Africa's misery (1998) and manipulating African governments (2000)[55] in a draft UN report on alleged illegal exploitation of resources from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[56] The final United Nations Report S/2003/1027 sent by United Nations Secretary General Kofi A. Annan to the Security Council on 23 October 2003 later dismissed these allegations in relation to several other multinational companies, including America Mineral Fields.[57][58]

Personal life[edit]

Boulle has British nationality.[59] He is a Mauritian citizen, and lives in Monaco. He is married and has two children.[60][61]

Honours[edit]

In 2007, Boulle was made a Commander of the Order of the Rokel, the highest order of merit of Sierra Leone for contributions to the economy of Sierra Leone through the establishment of a titanium and a bauxite mine after the civil war.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ McNish, J. (1998). The Big Score. Doubleday Canada. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-385-25758-9. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Sierra Leone to award Titanium Resources founder with its highest honour". International Mining. 9 May 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  3. ^ Waldie, Paul (8 May 2006). "Mr. Boulle got his start in the business working in Africa for De Beers". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Arkansas Allowing 4 Companies To Explore Public Diamond Mine". The New York Times. 20 November 1989. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Diamond Fields International Ltd. - Management – Thu Mar 23, 2017". Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  6. ^ Voisey's Bay Discovery
  7. ^ "The story of Voisey's Bay – the auction 'the total value' of the Voiseys bay deal was 'closer to $4.3 billion'". Mining.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  8. ^ SciDev.Net. "What might Red Sea mining bring to Saudi Arabia and Sudan?". Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Bloomberg : First Quantum Minerals Listing on Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSE")". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  10. ^ "First Quantum Minerals – FQM NOTICE OF INTENDED DELISTING". London Stock Exchange. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017.
  11. ^ "AUGUST 2005 :'Titanium Resources Group Ltd. on its admission to AIM. The listing allowed the company to re-open its mines in Sierra Leone, restoring the country's position as a significant provider of raw materials to the world markets'". FAEGRE BAKER DANIELS. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  12. ^ "greenland gold resources News – Investing News Network". Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Metals and Mining – Company Overview of Boulle Mining Group S.A.R.L." Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  14. ^ "Greenland Anorthosite". Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  15. ^ "Greenland anorthosite mine gets pension backing". Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  16. ^ "'World's first implantation of new heart valve at Royal Brompton Hospital'". NHS Foundation Trust. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  17. ^ "Tendyne Announces Successful First Human Implants of the Tendyne Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implant (TMVI)" (Press release). PR Newswire. 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2017 – via TheStreet.
  18. ^ Media Room, Abbott (2 September 2015). "ABBOTT COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF TENDYNE HOLDINGS, INC" (Press release). Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Abbott's Tendyne(TM) Device Receives World's First CE Mark for Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implantation" (Press release). 30 January 2020. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020 – via Wall Street Journal.
  20. ^ "Tendyne™ valve that is the only CE approved transcatheter mitral valve implant". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  21. ^ Netea MG, Domínguez-Andrés J, Barreiro LB, Chavakis T, Divangahi M, Fuchs E, Joosten LA, van der Meer JW, Mhlanga MM, Mulder WJ, Riksen NP, Schlitzer A, Schultze JL, Stabell Benn C, Sun JC, Xavier RJ, Latz E (2020). "Defining trained immunity and its role in health and disease". Nature Reviews. Immunology. 20 (6): 375–388. doi:10.1038/s41577-020-0285-6. PMC 7186935. PMID 32132681.
  22. ^ ""Trained Immunity" Featuring Dr. Mihai Netea". STEMCELL Technologies. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  23. ^ Levy O, Wynn JL (2014). "A Prime Time for Trained Immunity: Innate Immune Memory in Newborns & Infants". Neonatology. 105 (2): 136–141. doi:10.1159/000356035. PMC 3946366. PMID 24356292. Netea and colleagues recently coined the term 'trained immunity' (Introduction Line 6)
  24. ^ "The Boulle -SEI International Awards". AWish. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  25. ^ "World Titanium Resources – Home Page – ASX: WTR". Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  26. ^ "Share Price & Information – ASX". Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  27. ^ "World Titanium Resources – Home Page – ASX: WTR". Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  28. ^ "World Titanium Resources To Delist From ASX". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  29. ^ "Company Overview of World Titane Holdings Limited". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Base Resources to gain 85% interest in Toliara Sands, Madagascar". Mining Technology. 21 December 2017.
  31. ^ "'Base to raise A$100m for Madagascar's Toliara heavy minerals project'". Mining MX. 19 December 2017.
  32. ^ "Omnicane". Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  33. ^ "Omnicane generates around 30% of the annual electricity generated for the Grid and 40% of the country's renewable bagasse-based energy". Archived from the original on 5 June 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  34. ^ "Omnicane unveils ambitious Mon Trésor Airport City project". Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  35. ^ "The Raphael Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  36. ^ "Easy Rider' Reboot in the Works: Rights Holders to Update Dennis Hopper-Peter Fonda Classic". variety.com. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  37. ^ "Corporate Council on Africa announces new slate of Board Members | Corporate Council on Africa". www.corporatecouncilonafrica.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  38. ^ "About Us | Corporate Council on Africa". www.corporatecouncilonafrica.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  39. ^ "Corporate Council of Africa". Jean Boulle Group. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  40. ^ "African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) | U.S. Customs and Border Protection". www.cbp.gov. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  41. ^ "Jean-Raymond Boulle, Second US-SSA AGOA Forum - Boulle Mediation". docshare.tips. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  42. ^ "Protection of the Mauritius Kestrel". Jean Boulle Group. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  43. ^ "The Raphaël Fishing Company Ltd v. The State of Mauritius & Anor (Mauritius) [2008] UKPC 43 (30 July 2008)". www.saflii.org. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  44. ^ "Le bail permanent de Raphaël Fishing confirmé sur St.-Brandon". 31 July 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  45. ^ "DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE: Raphaël Fishing investit dans la conservation à St Brandon - Le Mauricien". Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  46. ^ "Research mission to St Brandon's Rock, a paradise coral reef atoll in the Indian Ocean - News - NWU - North-West University". news.nwu.ac.za. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  47. ^ "Prof Henk Bouwman". Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  48. ^ "Professor Tony Martin" (PDF). Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  49. ^ "Dr. Nik Cole". Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  50. ^ "13 îlots de St-Brandon deviennent "zone protégée"". Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  51. ^ "Birdlife International considers St. Brandon to be a Key Biodiversity Area and Important Bird Area". datazone.birdlife.org. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  52. ^ "Jean Boulle Group Conservation - Mauritian Skinks: Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust". www.youtube.com/. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  53. ^ "Jean Boulle Group enables the emergency rescue of three species of rare reptiles". www.jeanboullegroup.com/. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  54. ^ "Reptile rescue mission after the destruction of the oil spill in Mauritius". The world of yachts. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  55. ^ "Secretary General of UN's Letter to Security Council enclosing UN's Expert Panel Report S/2002/1146 dated 15 October 2002 on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – ANNEXE I, Nº.9, Page 1" (PDF). United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  56. ^ UN reference draft S/2002/1146, 15 October 2002
  57. ^ "Secretary General of UN's Letter to Security Council enclosing Expert Panel Report S/2003/1027 dated 15 October 2003 on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)- ANNEXE I, Nº. 27, Page 2" (PDF). United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  58. ^ LAURIAN CLEMENCE (31 October 2003). "America Mineral Fields welcomes UN report". Mining Weekly. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  59. ^ "Jean Raymond Boulle". The Times. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  60. ^ Jean Boulle Luxury (16 May 2017). "Unveiling of the Sun King™ Diamond coating". Retrieved 24 June 2017 – via YouTube.
  61. ^ "entrepreneur-mauricien-jean-raymond-boulle". Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  62. ^ "Trained Therapeutix Discovery appoints Nobel Laureate Dr. James Allison, Dr. Padmanee Sharma, and Dr. Mihai Netea to its Scientific Advisory Board". www.pharmiweb.jobs. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  63. ^ Netea, Mihai G. (2013). "Training innate immunity: the changing concept of immunological memory in innate host defence". European Journal of Clinical Investigation. 43 (8): 881–884. doi:10.1111/eci.12132. PMID 23869409. S2CID 29501882.
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