Great posts Wanderer5 and Liberty.

Liberty, you hit upon the crucial point in all of this. Management is put in place to make decisions on a day to day basis that benefit the company (and thus us, the shareholders) to the maximum potential. A deal such as the one announced today is not done lightly and has undoubtedly had a large amount of consideration done to justify it. We aren't privvy to the minute details of what it was done or what it was for, this is what we put Gary and others in charge to take care of for us. Yes, there is a trust factor, but that goes for any company that you choose to invest in. Do your DD. If you are unhappy with management's decisions, the sell button is to your right. Yes, we want management to be accountable, but we also want to grant them the autonomy to make the right decisions at the right time. If they are constantly looking over their shoulder for fear of shareholder reprisal, they will shy away from a lot of oppotunities.

Very few successful companies achieve stellar returns without a considerable amount of financing. The leverage attained through financing compared to issuing shares is significant if the investment is correct. If we return 25% per year from using the money from financing to purchase capital assets (mine shafts, properties, etc) that generate additional cash flow and we pay 12% for the privilege of using this money to make this investment, we benefit our shareholders greatly by doing this. Do I think that Liberty will see a return over 12% by using this money to invest in infrastructure/growth? Absolutely. Our balance sheet is very healthy and I am glad to see us accelerating our growth potential by borrowing some money to do it. Borrow money, invest, pay off loan, generate more cash, benefit shareholders. Rinse, repeat.