Sum,
I call it being responsible.
It's why we see prenuptial agreements in many marriages ..
It's why we pay for car insurance even if we didn't have to..
It's why in business dealings between companies ..we see companies with lawyers on both sides reviewing contract terms and conditions..
We cover all bases to protect ourselves in a responsible fashion and to de-risk our life.
It's not to say we feel we are going to get taken advantage of...but it is a means of making sure we won't.
I'll throw another thought out there. Imagine Sum...you kick in 1 billion for infrastructure for the Rof...and I kick in another billion.
Our expectation is the following:
(1) The mine will get financed by banks or through some takeoff agreement of sorts.
(2) there are takeoff agreements proving there are customers wanting the product when it comes out of the ground.
(3) We will get tax revenues gallore from the mine and new businesses etc. to pay back the billions we put out and then some.
but...what if the company was seized after we forked out the 2 billion and watched all this infrastructure being built? Noront has close to 50 billion in secured loans..
What if it was seized for the purpose of letting the stuff stay in the ground for as long as the owner wished.
What if we spent 2 billion dollars ..but..the New owners decided they didn't want the lowest cost nickel producer in the world to complete with them and affect their current interests...not anytime soon anyway.
What if they wanted to let it sit in the ground for 20 years? How would we get our investment to pay off?
To me...this 50 million dollar unsecured loan is like a prenup...it's not that I don't trust you.. I am just covering my ass....and all the other stakeholder asses.
