News

January 02, 2009

Directors Of Junior Mining Companies Have To Improve Communications In Current Conditions: Not Hide

Charles Wyatt

When Marc Bolland took over as chief executive of Morrisons Supermarkets last year he had a couple of handicaps. First he had no experience of retailing to offer, and second he was a Dutchman. Not easy when running what had become a major group operating largely in the North of England. The first thing had did was get in touch with all analysts and journalists who might be covering the company and gave them his mobile telephone number, “if you have any questions ring me up and we’ll go through them,” he said. “If I can’t answer immediately, I promise I will get back to you as soon as possible.”

With that one gesture he had them on side, so why is that that  so many chief executives of small to medium sized mining companies are so miserly with  their contact numbers? A case in point is Nautilus Minerals, a company in sub-sea mining, which grew very fast  and raised a lot of money from 2005 on as the potential profitability of such an operation  came to be appreciated. David Heydon, the founder and chief executive, was a charming and very approachable man and this...