Now that the "summer doldrums" for the metals and miners seem to be upon us – which may or may not last until after Labor Day – it might be worth your time to "measure" your precious metals' holdings.

Let's start by taking a look at the terms and (simplified) definitions for foreign and domestically-listed mineral resource-sector companies that are listed on a Canadian stock exchange.

Called the National Instrument (NI) 43-101, this reporting review was put together in an effort to protect investors, after a "fake mining story" of truly epic proportions erupted in the late 1990's...

It was the infamous Bre-X scandal, in which a Filipino geologist, Michael de Guzman, operating as a property project manager in Borneo, began "salting" ore samples with gold flecks shaved from his wedding ring.

As word got out about the "big find," the price of the company, Bre-X Minerals Ltd. rose from $0.30 cents a share, to an eventual open market high of over $250!

To keep the scam going, he bought panned gold from the locals, so that when examined, the new ore samples would show "color."

Before long, some of the largest mining companies and investment houses in the business – and even the Indonesian government – were touting the story and trying to get a piece of the action.

Independent auditors sent in to look at samples noted that the gold had rounded edges (which you might expect to find with stream-deposited placer gold), but Guzman simply made up excuses – which at first, everyone accepted. In late 1996, Lehman Brothers issued a "strong buy," calling it "the gold discovery of the century."