A Different Perspective
perspective - a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.
We all have one about MDMN, its management, its past, its present and its future. I’m going to share mine with you. It’s not necessarily the right one, but it has been arrived at thoughtfully. I’m not asking you to adopt my viewpoint, only to consider it. I don’t expect everyone to agree with the way I see things. We’re all different and come to this with different experiences and different needs and desires. It’s natural that we won’t see things the same way or want the same things out of it.
For the few who don’t know me, my name is Kevin (KMT). I have been a common shareholder in MDMN stock for almost 20 years and participated in one small private placement (over a decade ago if my recollection is correct.) During this time Medinah has gone through 3 or 4 names and ticker symbols. If you want to check my old posts out you can find them on Silicon Investor:
Mea Culpa
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve gone through some of the old threads. I need to apologize to some of you who I don’t even know. It’s hard to imagine being the person who wrote some of the things I did back then. But that was me. As I’ve looked back, I see three distinct seasons of my relationship to this investment.
The Early Days (Silicon Investor)
In the early days of this investment I was naive and green. This (actually NP Energy before Medinah) was the 2nd or 3rd stock I ever purchased. I was an intelligent individual, but ignorant and naive. A dangerous combination if you get my drift. I had no idea promoters could lie or exaggerate. I accepted what Dave Dirrico (the investor relations / promoter) and Les (the CEO) said as gospel. Those who disagreed with what they said were wrong or uninformed and were trying to destroy my investment. That led me to say a lot of things I regret. Things that were arrogant, hurtful, and rude. I’m sorry.
The Middle Years (Raging Bull)
After the first couple of years in Medinah I was crushed financially along with all the other stockholders who bought stock between $0.50 a share to $2.40 a share!!! Unfortunately, I still hadn’t learned my lesson. I continued to believe management and continued to buy stock.
Eventually it got to the point where even though I internally questioned management somewhat, I had no “choice” but to go along with it. I hoped the mountain was real. I hoped management was telling me the truth. Before long I was at a point where I had so much of my own ego and money invested that I was psychologically in denial. I lied to myself at least somewhat. I had to believe in the mountain and to some extent defend management. The alternative would have been too damaging personally and financially (or so I thought).
Although we can no longer access the posts from Raging Bull or from the early days of MiningPlay2006.com, without question I said some boneheaded and hurtful things then as well. If you were one of the objects of my denial-filled disdain, I apologize.
The Later Years (The Mining Play)
About 8 years ago I shook off my denial and victim mentality. I didn’t sell my stock. Nor did I buy much more. I didn’t believe management, but I did believe in the mountain. My posts went to supporting the mountain and an openness to question management and hope for the best in them but willing to realize the worst in them. I figured if I was going to lose it all, at least I’d do it with integrity.
I would regularly call management and ask hard and difficult questions. I would send emails to them calling them out when I found them stretching things. I became a thorn in their side, so to speak. I don’t think they were very happy with me.
I was still emotionally tied to my investment. After all, I invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours in this since 1997. But I was determined to no longer be dishonest with myself or others. Nor would I assume the worst about every poster who questioned management or disagreed with me or other shareholders. That doesn’t mean I was happy go lucky about things. I wrestled with the fear of losing everything quite often. I knew the kind of people who were in charge of things and I was never truly comfortable with my investment.
During the Ulander pump days I thought we had arrived. I thought the deal was real. That hurt a lot. Having a 7 fold return and enough money to retire and seeing it disappear – ouch. It hurt most because by this time I knew enough to know the property was legitimate and the stock could have been worth a lot more than it was if management played it straight. I let my guard down and trusted management and it cost me big time.
Obviously many of you were and are in the same boat. I’m sorry for us all. But here we still are, “in this together” as they say . . . and it isn’t over yet!
Today
That brings us to where we are today. For a long time I’ve been a big advocate of changing management and putting someone competent in charge of developing the project and managing the company. Thankfully that has happened. AURYN is fully in control of everything that happens on the ADL. In addition, for all practical purpose former management has been removed from having ANY influence over the outcome of this endeavor!
Moving Forward with a New Perspective
With all that said I’d like to offer where I think we are headed. I do this with great reservation. Please realize and acknowledge the following:
- Don’t read into anything I’m writing. Take it at face value.
- I’m not in control of the future.
- My comments are not based on any special knowledge of secret plans regarding future events.
- Although I am not the person I was in the early days, it doesn’t mean I’m right.
- The people at the helm and working the ADL aren’t clairvoyant or perfect. Mistakes will be made along the way.
Maurizio Cordova
As you know, I have met with Maurizio in person. In addition I have emailed him questions from time to time and have spoken with him on the phone several times. He is a straight forward, no-nonsense businessman. Undoubtedly you have read my write-up on the www.aurynblog.com. I stand by it. We are in good hands.
The Property and AMC
The Property is legit as well. The findings to date speak for themselves and more is coming as AMC continues to explore and exploit. Maurizio has put together a well qualified team. They are doing this the right way and we will all be the beneficiaries of it.
The New Medinah
As far as I can tell, AMC friendlies are more or less leading Medinah. The two new board members have deep ties to AMC. But that doesn’t eliminate their fiduciary responsibility to Medinah shareholders. I believe they are keenly aware of that and I’m confident that they will conduct their duties appropriately.
MDMN Shareholder’s Future
This is my perspective today. I believe our mountain is absolutely terrific. I believe that the ADL is going to prove out to be a world class project. I believe that MASGLAS, Maurizio, and the rest of the AMC team think this as well.
I believe MASGLAS and Maurizio are people of unusual integrity in a world of pretenders. I don’t think they have any interest in harming Medinah shareholders. In fact, I believe they are us, i.e. they own more than 35% of the stock of Medinah and 65% of the mountain in AMC. They will not try to buy us out cheaply and take advantage of the poor reputation that Medinah has or our own misinformed opinions. Nor will they allow themselves to be bought out cheaply by some other major.
They are long term thinkers with a belief in the project and a solid plan for developing it as expeditiously as possible. They are aware of the need for cashflow and have no interest in diluting themselves or us. Again, they are us to the tune of almost 500 million shares via friends and family.
Our financial success as Medinah shareholders and AMC’s success will rise or fall with the successful development of the ADL. If the mountain delivers, I am certain that MDMN shareholders will get their appropriate share, one way or another.
I’m no longer worried about company risk. Has former management done a poor job and unduly diluted us? Yes. But what has been done is done. If AMC is able to undo some of it, I believe they will. If they cannot, they won’t. I trust that process (scrutinizing as they said in the news release) to them.
More importantly, I trust the mountain to them. They are moving forward and each day we move closer to production. Starting late summer / early fall the beginnings of real cash flow will come into AMC. Eventually there will be enough cash flow for some of it to make its way to Medinah shareholders. That is the day we’re all looking forward to!!!
In the meantime, I am not going to get upset about the stock price. There is nothing I can do about it. I’m not going to tell AMC what they should or shouldn’t do. I’m going to accept that they are on my side of the ledger. The only corrective for all the former failures is successful production along with AMC and the new MDMN executing honestly, ethically, and forthrightly. Eventually people will begin to realize that this is not the same company that told story after story about one deal or the other and never lived up to their billing.
You may be right, I may be crazy
As I said previously, you don’t have to agree with my perspective. After all, I was once stupid enough to put my confidence in the team that diluted me from 28 million shares to 1.3 billion. You have a right to question my sanity.
All I can say is that this investment has changed me. I’m not the same person I was in 1997. Because of my experiences, I believe I’m a far better judge of character, and I’m a far better person of character. Life does that to you. It makes you bitter or better based on your response.
If you got this far, thanks for reading. I’m honored that you took the time to consider my thoughts.
Many blessings to you all . . . and a great amount of respect to you long-timers who have lived through your own dreams and nightmares over the years with MDMN and have allowed it to change you for the better.
Sincerely,
Wizard (KMT)
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