Sprott Natural Resource Symposium: Day 2 Highlights

The Sprott Natural Resource Symposium took centre stage last week in Vancouver. Day 2 closed with a lively end of day panel with some of the mining industry’s equivalent of royalty taking the stage for a discussion aptly titled “The Living Legends”. The panel featured some heavy hitters known in the industry for some of the most prolific discoveries and deals including:

Ross Beaty, Chairman, Pan American Silver Corp., Robert Friedland, Founder and Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. and Randy Smallwood, CEO Wheaton Precious Metals.

Moderated by Rick Rule, President and CEO of Sprott US Holdings Inc., the panel participants arrived wearing shades, surprising Rule with a tongue in cheek nod to the “Blues Brothers”, showing their camaraderie. They then proceeded to provide some not-to-be missed one liners, quotable phrases and descriptive narratives describing their wild successes (and failures!) and offered some sage advice based on personal experience to a room full of keen investors and peers.

Here are some Highlights from the Panel Discussion:

….on continuity and passion as the key to success in the business:

“If you don’t’ stick to it and if you don’t learn your trade…it’s like being a fully formed blue’s musician – if you don’t play every night, you’re not going to be any good. So I would say, I’ve assembled a bunch of people that I know that can play every instrument that they need to play: I’ve got a good base player, a good drummer, and a good rhythm section and in terms of the continuity, I’ve had the same team since I basically became a CEO, one of the longest term CEO’s in the business at this time. I’ve been doing this since 2000, so I guess that’s 18 years in. Probably a little past my time if I had to guess by the rest of the stats, but I’m still here!” - Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

….on Retirement:

“Ross (Beaty) has encouraged me to retire, but I’ve watched his retirement program and I think he needs a tutor! He’s not very good at it…” - Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.

“Mercifully Ross failed retirement” – Rick Rule, President and CEO of Sprott US Holdings Inc.

….on Geologists and their important role in generating wealth in the sector:

“Geologists are some of the most important people in the mining industry. The most wealth is generated in the discovery of a resource. It’s like a major drug manufacturer inventing an unethical molecule like Viagra – once you have have that molecule and you know it works, and then the outcome is more or less the same. The discovery process is where the wealth is generated. So geologists in our world are like the high priests. We need care for and feed left brain, intuitive people. We never punish failure as we are in the business of drilling dry holes. And we are in the business of testing new concepts. Very, very bright intensely focused people have to be supported by management that encourages risk taking and encourages passion.” - Robert Friedland, Founder and Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

“Nobody ever found a deposit sitting on Bay Street with a banker – it always happens in the bush with a rock hammer and a drill.” - Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.

“Don’t be afraid to drill smart dry holes, because dry holes are the price you pay for success You learn something from a dry hole…this is sort of “zen thinking”…but you are at least learning where its not!” - Robert Friedland, Founder and Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

…on what to look for in a manager/CEO/Management team – other than Ross Beaty?

“You have to rely on luck – it’s the only thing that’s really worked for me!” – Ross Beaty, Chairman, Pan American Silver Corp. (tongue in cheek)

“You have to look at the people that can actually stay in the marathon, so if you’re looking at a company you have to look at access to capital, the management teams ability to stay the course and look at how long they have been on the frack before, so that would be one of the criteria that I would throw out there.” - Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.

…..on how many times your share price decreased by 50% or more over those 10 years it took you to become an “overnight success”:

“I would say we went through 6 major, kind of “headshots’ from a share price/market standpoint. The worst one being in 2008, the genius that I am I published a feasibility in 2008 with probably 24 hours off the bottom of the market and I explained to everybody that I need 874 million dollars that I did not have, and as one shareholder said to me, “God himself doesn’t have 870 million dollars right now and if he did he sure as hell wouldn’t give it to anyone as stupid as you are!”….and I went home from work very optimistic that day??!?...thinking, it could only get better from here…” - Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

“I’m thankful you didn’t identify me!! (as the shareholder in that story)..” – Rick Rule, President and CEO of Sprott US Holdings Inc.

…on approaching their “sell by date” and names of who they think will be on the Living Legend panel in 10 years:

“I wish they worked for me, but I would say the guys from Integra [Resources Corp (ITR.V)] have done a good job. I think the millennials haven’t found their relationship with the commodities market yet – Steven DeJong would be my choice as someone who can bridge that gap and help this generation of investors understand why they need to be commodities investors” - Sean Roosen, CEO, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

“I’m going to be kind of boring here because I am going to pick one of the larger companies out there that we have a partnership with and I think they are one of the best at empowering and they have a lot of young blood coming through there right now…it’s the big bad beast Glencore. There are a few guys in there that will have great success.” - Randy Smallwood, CEO Wheaton Precious Metals.

“There’s a bunch of them, Bebek [Ivan Bebek – Torq Resources (TORQ.V)/ Auryn Resources (AUG.T)] is wonderful, and some of the guys with Equinox Gold (EQX.V) are smart guys doing a great job, and Nolan Watson [Sandstorm Gold Royalties (SSL.T)], he’s here and he’s done a fabulous job building Sandstorm, Amir Adnani [GoldMining Inc (GOLD.T)/ Uranium Energy (UEC.AMEX)], I mean they’re all great young guys and they’re all going to build great companies” - Ross Beaty, Chairman, Pan American Silver Corp.

“We do have young people in our organization that are incredibly bright. They are young Africans and young Chinese. They are just incredible geologists, they can almost smell it…They are highly intuitive… We used to have people like that in the old days – prospectors. So I think the next generation will be young Africans and young Chinese that learn like a sponge and we employ a lot of kids between 25 and 35. I think the mining cycle will come back with these young ones.” - Robert Friedland, Founder and Executive Chairman, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.