I had the same initial reaction to the insider selling as you...

I had the same initial reaction to the insider selling as you did, and literally spent about two days reviewing the company as well as its customers and some of the potential projects, mostly gold, that will come up for bid in the next year or two. I went from a potential seller to being somewhat excited about the company's potential. Valuations are not stretched, especially given their propensity to pay good dividends. Historically MLD's return on equity has been among the best in the business, despite conservative gearing. I attribute part of this to the nature of their customers, smaller miners who often don't have expertise in house. It's more profitable working for them rather than for Rio Tinto or BHP. And part of it is that they just are better at what they do than competitors.

To an extent this is a punt on the price of gold. If the price stays where it is or goes higher, they'll do well, as more mines start up. If it goes to, say 800 USD/ounce, then I'll be wishing I'd sold too.

About the share sales, if I were playing devil's advocate, I'd say that only one of the three sellers is a director or officer. And that all three still have substantial positions left in the company. From your table, two own over half of their initial positions. About all three selling at the same time, they've always sold large blocks in concert, on the same days. I've identified three times since the IPO when they've done that. In addition, Edwards has dribbled out relatively small quantities from time to time. That said, you've got a point, when you see the company founders selling large blocks, and several disappearing from the register of 5% shareholders all together, you wonder if there's something they know that you don't.

Thank you for preparing and posting the table, that's informative.