Liberty gets a mention

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/Industry-News/mining/Markets-opening-up-to-mining-industry940.aspx

"The problem with this willingness to invest, however, is that the tough financial times have caused many companies’ share prices to dip, meaning that any money being sought from the market will tend to dilute the company’s general ownership.

Few junior exploration firms know this dynamic better than Liberty Mines, whose Timmins-area producing mines were brought to a halt by sinking nickel prices.

With debt financing falling through, a loan due in October and a variety of expenses, Liberty Mines arranged a $30-million financing with China’s Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Company Ltd. in April 2009. The move gave Jilin Jien a 51 per cent stake in Liberty.

Despite the negative connotations that can sometimes arise, the spectre of foreign ownership fails to faze Liberty CEO Gary Nash, who says Jilin Jien deserves a lot of credit and respect for stepping in where others would not.

Indeed, giving up majority rule over of one’s company can sometimes be the answer to prying badly needed money from the markets, especially if rival firms see the tough economic times as an opportunity to prey on financial weakness.

“There were 14 Canadian companies sitting in the woodworks, just waiting to take a piece of Liberty apart in receivership,” says Nash. “Rather than step up to the plate and work with us to solve our problem, they just stood there like vultures. Everybody says, ‘Now you have a foreign country that owns half your company,’ but half of everything is better than 100 per cent of nothing.”