Medinah Minerals (MDMN)

[Hurricane_Rick]

Here is an excellent must-read summary of Auryn Mining's Maurizio Cordova by a shareholder who met him at PDAC last week:


"PDAC Trip Part 1 – Who is Maurizio Cordova?

Last week I made the trip to PDAC 2016 in Toronto with the sole purpose of conducting due diligence. I wanted to meet Maurizio Cordova, the Executive Chairman of AURYN Mining Chile SpA in order to:

get to know Maurizio Cordova, the person,
learn more about AURYN Mining Chile (AMC), the company,
and find out more about AMC’s plans for the Altos de Lipangue project and Medinah Minerals.

I accomplished all three.

Making Contact

I first exchanged emails with Maurizio several weeks ago shortly after starting the Auryn Blog. Maurizio emailed me a warm note. He applauded my effort to help educate shareholders and asked that I do two things – make it clear that I am not affiliated with AURYN and apply the layman’s version of Occam’s razor theory to all the wild speculations that show up on message boards. I have tried to do the latter and I have made it clear that the opinions expressed on the Auryn Blog are my own and that I don’t represent AMC or MDMN.

When I heard that Maurizio was attending PDAC I emailed him and asked if there was any chance I or an associate could meet him for a few minutes. Maurizio indicated his schedule was packed but that he could meet with me for a short time in the afternoon on Tuesday, March 8th. With that as a plan I booked a morning flight in and an evening flight out and hoped he was a man of his word. He was that and more.

We met on Tuesday in the convention center. Maurizio and Amparo (his wife) graciously invited me to join them for lunch and spend time with them until his next hard meeting in the late afternoon. I love South American hospitality. We ended up spending several hours together over a meal and a couple of cups of espresso (him) and cappuccino (me.) We discussed our backgrounds, business in general, the mining business, family, AMC, and MDMN. I watched as he networked with several geologists and executives in the mining industry, chatted with strangers, and conducted a little local business. Here is what I learned about Maurizio Cordova during our time together.

Entrepreneur / Businessman

Maurizio is an entrepreneur from top to bottom. In getting to know him I found out that he has established several successful businesses. Some he has sold; others he still owns but has adjusted his involvement to a more passive position. He has done this in multiple countries including Italy, the US, Peru, and Chile. The interests have been diverse as well – a law firm, a software company, an ISP, mining, tech investing, and other areas.

There is no questioning his love for the mining business, but I think he loves the act of creating successful enterprises even more. I find that refreshing. Too many “gold bugs” don’t seem to realize that the objective is not owning land or extracting mineralization, it’s ethical and sustainable profitability. It was clear from our conversations that successfully monetizing the Altos de Lipangue in such a way for AURYN shareholders (including CDCH and MDMN) is the underlying factor in his decision making.

Networker

Most successful entrepreneurs are networkers and Maurizio is no exception. He introduced me to several people while we were walking around the convention center and told me of meetings he had with several others. I won’t name drop, but if I were to, you would recognize the people or at least the positions they hold and the companies they work for.

We spent a good amount of time discussing Masglas, AMC’s parent company. I believe that was Maurizio’s primary reason for attending PDAC. Although AMC and the ADL may be Masglas’s flagship project, it is not its only project. Some of the people he introduced me to were discussing or involved in other mining projects with Masglas.

The nice thing is I never felt out of place while he networked. It seemed like I had his full attention the entire time. When someone interrupted us or Maurizio saw someone he wanted to greet, he would introduce me and include me in the conversation. The times where it was inappropriate to do so he politely excused himself.

My general opinion is Maurizio is well connected and has made the appropriate people in the mining community aware of what AMC is doing on the Altos de Lipangue. I’m confident that Maurizio has the connections and wisdom to consult the right players and bring them in at the appropriate time.

Executive Leader

Innovation, taking on appropriate risk, trust and delegation, inclusive decision making, the ability to take action and to adjust, communication . . . these are some of the more important skills of a successful CEO.

This post won’t cover all the details of our time together. There is only so much one can learn after spending a few hours with another person, but during our visit I made mental notes and evaluated Maurizio’s competence in the aforementioned areas.

As we discussed Medinah Minerals, Masglas, Auryn Mining, and Maurizio’s other businesses it was evident to me that he was a CEO. He kept the big picture in focus but knew enough about all the details to be highly conversant in every area I asked about. When we got down into the minutiae in some areas he referred to notes or documents that he had readily available. He was always quick to point out and give credit to others for their contribution. I was grateful to see that he wasn’t a ball hog, didn’t have to do everything himself, gave credit freely, and appeared not to micro manage.

From his stories I could tell he was a risk taker but that he had a keen sense of self-awareness in that regard and sought to strategically mitigate risk whenever possible. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned. Some risks don’t pay off. We talked about some of the things that AMC has tried to accomplish, the risks that haven’t worked, and the course alterations that were made to adjust to new circumstances.

All in all, after our meeting I’m extremely comfortable with Maurizio’s business approach. He has what it takes to come up with and a sound strategy, build and lead a team of people to execute that strategy, and pivot appropriately when the situation calls for it.

Integrity

Integrity is something we all value but often lack. I’ll give three examples of why I believe Maurizio to be a man of integrity.

One of the first things I asked Maurizio about was a situation regarding AMC and MDMN that is not flattering and is not public. The specifics are not important, but a couple of other shareholders and I were aware of this information through our own due diligence and deduction. I had previously inquired about the situation with another person who surely knew about it. My inquiry was met with denial and obfuscation. When I asked Maurizio about the same situation he readily acknowledged the accuracy of its substance, corrected some of the misunderstanding I had, and provided clarity. In the past many have said that being a Medinah shareholder was like living on a mushroom farm (they keep you in the dark and throw manure on you.) Well in the new Medinah we get to finally breathe fresh air!

Another example of Maurizio’s integrity is the several times he told me that he did not know the answer to my question or that the information I was asking about was confidential and he would not provide an answer at this time. My experience has been that people in charge rarely like to appear unknowledgeable. Rather than admit ignorance on anything they make things up and ad lib. I’m much more impressed when a leader says, “I don’t know, let me find out and get back to you.” When Maurizio didn’t know the answer to my question, he told me so. When I pried for information that he felt was inappropriate for him to provide he told me that as well. He didn’t mix the two, nor did he hide behind one or the other. More fresh air!

The last example I’ll leave you with regarding integrity is that of accepting responsibility and not laying blame. We had a conversation about the relational conflict among certain individuals and entities. Once again the specifics are irrelevant. The salient point is that when I expressed my view Maurizio could have easily accepted it. In fact, most people would have not only accepted my view, they would have piled on because it would have elevated their status. Instead Mauricio acknowledged the accuracy of portions of my view but also pointed out other things that helped me see some parties in a more favorable light. I can breathe again!

Family

One of the biggest casualties many entrepreneurs experience is failure on the home front. I was delighted to see that Amparo, Maurizio’s wife, was with him at the conference and is involved and conversant regarding AMC. Amparo actively listened to our conversations and she and I had a couple of our own during the times Maurizio was attending to other things. We spoke about family, dogs, her involvement in AMC, and their relationship. I watched how the two of them interacted and how they treated each other. I’ll relate one short story that leads me to believe they’re on solid ground.

At one point in the day Maurizio and I were outside for a break and Amparo was holding our table inside the restaurant. An attractive young woman with a cigarette came up to us and asked Maurizio for a light. I glanced at her name tag and noticed she was a newspaper reporter from Santiago. Obviously she was at PDAC doing a story. Maurizio noticed this too (see networking above) and immediate started conversing with her. She recognized I was a getting a little lost in the conversation and asked if they should speak English. I had already told Maurizio that I needed to brush up on my Spanish and said it was fine for them to continue. I missed most of the conversation but caught several phrases about mining, the Altos de Lipangue, exchanging cards and so forth.

Most men wouldn’t tell their spouses about a young woman asking them for a light. When we got back into the restaurant Maurizio immediately told Amparo about the conversation. Amparo reiterated what Maurizio had told me previously about AMC being one of only two mining companies with anything going on in Santiago and that this would be a good contact for press.

A fractured home life is one thing that can derail a CEO’s focus. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that in this case.

Invest in Management­

As I mentioned at the start, meeting and getting to know Maurizio the person was one of my primary objectives. People may not understand the importance of this. However, being involved in several start-ups over the years, I have firsthand experience of the cost of poor leadership. Strong management is critical. In fact, an article in Forbes considers it one of the five essentials for small business investing.

. . . you are investing as much in the leadership as you are in the product or company. As a result, you need to invest behind a CEO in whom you believe. . . . Does this person understand their business, have a passion for the product, and have what it takes to persevere?

Thankfully, I can answer “Yes!” Maurizio is a person in whom I believe. He understands the business, has a passion for the Altos de Lipangue, and has what it takes to persevere. Those of us who have joined our dreams to the success of AMC and the monetization of the Altos de Lipangue are well served with Maurizio Cordova leading the way. There are other risks involved which I’ll cover in a future post, but as far as the CEO is concerned, we are in good shape."

http://aurynblog.com/pdac-trip-part-1-maurizio-cordova/