Felderhof is believed to have been holed up at his Cayman Islands estate since the Bre-X meltdown, which wiped $6 billion in stock market value off the company's books and led to numerous lawsuits by disgruntled investors.

  After seeing its stock price rise to more than $200 a share, Bre-X Minerals collapsed after an investigation proved its Indonesian gold property was a fraud. The investigation showed stellar drilling results were fabricated by chief geologist Michael de Guzman and his associates in Indonesia.

  De Guzman later died after falling from a company helicopter over the Indonesian jungle. Bre-X chairman David Walsh died almost a year ago of an aneurysm at his Bahamian estate.

  The Ontario Securities Commission said it has laid eight charges against Felderhof, accusing the long-time geologist of violating provincial securities laws.

  The commission alleged that between April 24, 1996 and September 10, 1996 Felderhof was involved in insider trading of more than 2.7 million shares of Bre-X for about $83.9 million "with knowledge of a material fact pertaining to rights of Bre-X in relation to the Busang properties that had not been generally disclosed."

  A further four counts allege that between June 20, 1996 and Feb. 17, 1997 Felderhof "authorized, permitted or acquiesced in Bre-X issuing press releases containing resource calculations for the central and southeast zones of the Busang properties that in a material respect were misleading or untrue."