A former geological consultant to Beacon Minerals has pleaded guilty to insider trading, over almost 6.7 million shares, in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
A former geological consultant to Beacon Minerals has pleaded guilty to insider trading, over almost 6.7 million shares, in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Darryl Mapleson, who provided geological services to West Leederville company Beacon Minerals, pleaded guilty in court on Monday.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission referred the matter to the courts, alleging Mr Mapleson had information for the drilling program at Beacon’s Jaurdi gold project which at the time have not been announced to the market.
In a statement released today, ASIC alleged Mr Mapleson procured Rosdarem and Rosdarem Investments, companies of which he was a director, to acquire 6,792,850 Beacon Minerals shares.
ASIC alleged the transaction occurred between 21 and 24 January 2017 while Mr Mapleson was in possession of inside information.
“At the time, Mr Mapleson was engaged by Beacon Minerals to act as its competent person for the making of announcements to the Australian Securities Exchange regarding drilling results,” the corporate watchdog said in its statement.
“Two charges of insider trading were discontinued.
Mr Mapleson is due for a sentencing hearing on August 6, ASIC said.
ASIC also alleged former Beacon project manager Alexander McCulloch encouraged two associates to buy shares in the company while he was in possession of insider information.
Mr McCulloch has pleaded not guilty to two counts of insider trading and a trial has been listed in the Supreme Court of WA in November 2026.
ASIC alleged the information possessed by Mr McCulloch and Mr Mapleson were related to results from the stage one drilling programme of the Jaurdi project.
