oracle - I agree, absolutely! That was another major factor in my decision. The keys for me:

Management - Experienced industry veterans that came from Newmont

Property/potential - The property is along a trend that hosts several multi-million ounce deposits and shares several characteristics with the Cripple Creek mine. Drill results have already shown significant potential in grade, depth, width and strike.

Cash - $17MM in cash means they will not have to go to the market for funds any time soon.

News catalysts - with three rigs drilling on the property and a well-defined program, we should have a good indication fairly soon on whether the drill program is confirming their theories about this deposit. They seem to be able to get their stuff through the labs at lot faster than what I have seen with most companies.

All of the above are still no guaranty of success but they certainly help stack the deck in our favor, which is about the best we can get in these situations.

tsl