The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition the controversy around Pretium Resources is escalating after the miner revealed that Strathcona Mineral Services declared its entire resource to be invalid. The Post's Peter Koven writes the judgment came from Strathcona, the Toronto firm that famously declared Bre-X to be a scam. The news sent Pretium shares down 28 per cent to $3.45 Tuesday. There is plenty of gold in Pretium's "Valley of the Kings" discovery in British Columbia, but disagreement persists over how it should be measured. Strathcona, which was hired by Pretium to oversee a bulk sample program for the deposit, resigned two weeks ago because it disagreed with the company's chosen methodology and found fault with its resource. Strathcona president Graham Farquharson criticized Pretium management Tuesday, saying his firm informed Pretium about its concerns several times and they were not immediately disclosed. Pretium disclosed parts of Strathcona's resignation letter, which includes a scathing assessment of the work so far at the project. "There are no valid gold mineral resources for the [Valley of the Kings] zone, and without mineral resources there can be no mineral reserves," Strathcona said.