When investing in the ASX small cap mining sector, one of the most important aspects weighing on any investment decision is the capability and integrity of the management team.
Unfortunately, the ASX small cap mining sector is dominated by opportunistic actors that vend in projects and sell fluff to shareholders, eventually leaving them stranded at a loss. There are many recent examples pertaining to this predatory behaviour on the ASX.
The positive with ENV is that the management is not from the typical Perth small cap broker mining crowd.
The Chairman Dato 'Sia is a man of profound integrity, vision and success. He is an adviser to the ministry of energy and natural resources in Malaysia.
He has proven to be a man of values and principles. Here is an example from a Tin mine he founded. When the international price of Tin crashed, he kept the Tin mine operating to keep workers employed and the company afloat.
While Dato 'Sia is an immensely successful geologist now with his own mining companies and selling projects for millions, he understood the mechanism of persistence and that will it eventually breed success.
Dato 'Sia's rags to riches story is profoundly inspiring.
He has demonstrated intelligence, grit and determination. These are exactly the attributes you want for a company chairman and director. We as investors, can rest assured that Dato 'Sia will give it his all to ensure successful outcomes for shareholders and employees.
Apart from Dato 'Sia being a successful geologist and mine operator, he is also an innovator. He has developed and patented segregation technology for rare earth elements extracted from ionic adsorption clays.
The segregation technology is essential to separate all the rare earth elements, so they can be sold. At the moment, the Chinese have this technology and the ability to operate it at scale.
Please refer to these interviews on Malaysian BFM business radio and Malaysia Television channel Astro Awani with Dato 'Sia.
I don't think any of ENV's peers, whether its VMM, BRE or MEI can boast to have someone of the calibre of Dato 'Sia on their board. He has demonstrated a history of success and determination. He has now pioneered the exact technology that ENV will require to process IAC in Brazil post leaching.
He is extremely close to the Malaysian government and sits on the government's mining advisory committee. In fact, it was the Malaysian ministry of energy and natural resources (KETSA) that sought Dato 'Sia's guidance. Interestingly enough, several potential IAC deposits have been identified in Malaysia per the Malaysian government. Will Dato's relationship with the Malaysian government leverage these deposits for ENV? The possibilities are endless.
Ultimately, why I'm invested in ENV is the quality of management and the lack of your typical Perth opportunistic broker crowd, the usual vend project into shell, pump and dump scheme.
Dato 'Sia is a revolutionary leader in the rare earth mining industry while Eric Vesel is a mining engineer who was previously chief operating officer for Avocet (an actual miner with a gold mines).
