The NST-Factor

Well as we all know, Northern Star did an incredible job over the past years and having just read the latest presentation i just wanted to point out some key factors which make all the difference between NST and their competitors.

To quote from the latest presentation:

Underground specialists in Geology, Mining and Processing: Strong competitive advantage given the global trend of open pit operations transitioning to underground

Strong aligned management team: Track record of delivering key objectives which in turn have consistently achieved sector leading returns for Shareholders

These facts have proven to be extremely successful in the past and will continue to make the deciding difference in the future.

I remember listening to a BB interview in 2013/2014 around the time they started their acquisition game with Plutonic. He stated that NST was following a strategy of first securing a first rate team of specialists and mining knowledge (without having the assets to employ them fully) and only after that task was achieved, they would start looking for assets, which is exactly what they did. As history proves, this strategy was a golden one, pun intended ;-)  

Northern Star have since then built a reputation to be a very special company being able to achieve things , where the Big Majors in the mining industry failed. Turning around mines, that have been given up by the Big Ones because of shrinking production, reserves and resources. And doing so because of expertise in their field of business with a a team that simply outclasses their rivals.

In times were most companies and practically every country are plagued by large, often unsustainable debts, it is a refreshing difference, to have a management which has such a sound financial approach. NO DEBT and  a fat bank account, which is essentially  a war chest, to be wisely used, when the opportunity arises, is a definite recipe for success, which can so clearly be seen in NST share price and balance sheet.

Add to that an extremely wise communication strategy of underpromising and overdelivering, which is so very rare in the financial industry and so intelligent psylogogically.

I was used to companys who would paint a very rosy future in their presentations (usually the possible but very unlikely best cast scenario) but nearly never ever delivered, that once i got "hooked" to the NST-factor, where continuous overdelivering was the standard, i knew that i had found the investment vehicle for my financial future.

I think we can all look forward to what NST does to their new POGO acquisition, the coming months and years will most likely show, that the NST-factor starts working once again.

And the best part is, that with every successful quarterly in the future, the reputation of the "NST-brand" will continue to grow. The bank account is still a very big one and with the current production profile will increase significantly every month.

So to sum this up, in nearly every scenario NST is set up to win:

Either the gold price rises and thus NST, as Top25 producer will obviously profit, or even in a bad case scenario with a falling gold price,Northern Star will be able to make use of their ever growing war chest and pick up assets on the cheap, while competitors with much higher AISC will struggle to survive.

A splendid future indeed. I just love the way NST is managed !