future?, page-12

Never pay off your HECS unless you have to. Put everything on HECS at every opportunity you have. Zero real interest rate, indefinite term loan, you got to be crazy to pay that off voluntarily.

Couldn't help but notice you said management was solid. What signs were you looking for exactly? I remember ADY releasing a hyped up NPV for one of its projects years back, then applying a PE to that NPV sum. If I ever saw a sign of dodgy management, that was it. There was no excuse releasing that whopper of a figure.

One definite sign that management is solid in my eyes, is that they tell it like it is, without spin. I remember when I had Aztec shares, listening to a preso by the then MD Ian Burston. He was completely honest about the state of affairs of the company. He wasn't trying to sell, he was trying to inform. I didn't even realise building a seawall was a risk (they were building an iron ore mine) until he mentioned it. IMHO it would have been VERY easy for him to gloss over the Seawall issue. Not a single analyst had picked it up that it was a significant issue to factor in when valuing the project, and that if the seawall didn't go to plan the whole project was essentially kaput. Thankfully everything went according to plan and shareholders made a lot of money when it was taken over by another company!

IMHO you want guys like these heading your resource juniors, and avoid salesmen type guys like PT.