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Ethics Case No. 6- Resource Sector - Unauthorized Modification of Your Written Report

Anonymous

Background/Preamble

The ethical dilemma presented in this issue describes a situation where, as a professional geoscientist (P.Geo.), working as a consultant, you discover that a report you prepared and submitted to a client is modified without your knowledge. The report entails a recommendation you made about a prospect that you had reviewed. Later you learned that a reserve report, not prepared by you, is added to your recommendation and it is being used by the client to market the prospect.

Statement of the Situation

A professional consulting geoscientist, you are asked by a client to evaluate a prospect with the understanding that your report, if favourable, will be used to promote the prospect to investors. You undertake the assignment and conclude that the prospect warrants drilling. You communicate your conclusion formally in a report you prepared to fulfill your obligation.

Sometime later while talking with a prospective investor, who values your opinion, you find out that a copy of your report is being used by the client in the offering material for the prospect. You call up the client to get a copy of the offering material and discover that a reserve estimate for the prospect has been added to your report. You contact the client about the modification to your report and instead of receiving an explanation you are given an opportunity to evaluate another prospect.

Question

What would you do?

What happened? Actual outcome will appear in Field Notes-September/October, 2006 issue.

APGO does not necessarily advocate the solutions in this case. APGO'S intent in publishing the case, is simply to stimulate discussion and thought thereby, helping geoscience practitioners who may be faced with, or are facing, a similar predicament deal effectively with it. The ethical case is presented here to help geoscience practitioners who may be faced with, or are facing, a similar predicament deal effectively with it.
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Professional geoscientists are faced with ethical dilemmas, not unlike the one described above as they carry out their daily professional duties. Therefore, Field Notes wants you to send in examples from your own experience to share with its other readers such as ethical cases regarding incomplete disclosure, problems with conflicting test data results, insufficient information with which to draw stated conclusions, pressure to rewrite conclusions or any others that you can think of that affect geoscientists. Authors will remain anonymous. You are reminded that as a licensed professional geoscientist you are bound by your Association's Code of Ethics. Articles to be published in future issues of Field Notes.

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Field Notes is published by APGO and is edited by Wendy Diaz, P.Geo. If you have comments or wish to contribute material to this newsletter, please contact Wendy Diaz, P.Geo., or Norman Williams, P.Eng., Executive Director/Registar.

Copyright 2006, Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO)