Everyone has earliest memories” and I am no exception. My early memories are of pitched battles involving rocks to protect our “ownership” of an old Model T car that was abandoned in a meadow not far from my home. On off-nights we would venture over to the abandoned company barracks (I grew up in a “company town”) which were the “turf” of our sworn enemies and the battle would involve them holding the roof and keeping us from advancing by means of well aimed rocks. In those early days of the baby boom, life was a precarious existence. But it wasn’t until I blew out the eardrum of one of my foes with an air rifle that I seriously considered that I was in a downward spiral likely to end in a life of crime. Even at the age of seven it is a good idea to take stock of one’s life!

It was at this time that a seminal event in my life occurred. My older brother I had noticed one of his friends sitting in our maple tree and his response to our interrogation of why has had me thinking ever since. “I am waiting for Marilyn Monroe” he said. Now think of that for a moment... a 12 year old kid in Kimberley, B.C., sitting in a tree waiting for Marilyn Monroe! This is must have metaphysical significance and I have been pondering it ever since. What in the world was my brother’s friend thinking when he said that? It has been a fruitless search all these years but it did have the effect of abruptly halting my descent into a life of crime.

The existential wait for Marilyn Monroe has since become a theme in my life not that the object of the wait is Marilyn but that I seem to be perennially waiting. Blaise Pascal described his waiting in terms of the God-shaped vacuum in each of us. The psalmist declares that God has put eternity into our hearts. This resonates with me and I am drawn to the spiritual rather than material dimension of life to find my answer to the why of waiting... for Marilyn, Godot or anyone else.

But what does this mean in relation to building a mining company. Well, you have waited this long to fulfill your dream and I urge you to continue in your patience. Unless you are very lucky you won’t finding success overnight and if you are impatient you may be driven to spend money foolishly, immorally, illegally or worse. In building your company exercise your virtues as well as your business and technical acumen because, at the end of the day, no one will remember the name of the great company you built but they will remember whether they were defrauded or treated with respect. A life of integrity is worth much more than any fortune you can acquire and the mining industry is already crowded with those who disagree with me.