Hello!
My name is Andy Millette. My journey into natural resource companies started over forty years ago, as a youngster growing up just outside of Anchorage, Alaska. Nearly 85% of Alaska’s state revenues are based on oil.
In 1994, at the age of 21 I flew from Anchorage to the New Orleans Investment Conference host by the late James Blanchard. The speakers included James Dale Davidson, Doug Casey (whom I met and was gracious enough to sign for me his bestselling book Crisis Investing for the Rest of the 90’s), and Rick Rule – who was gracious enough to give a young kid (me) a list of questions to ask the junior natural resource companies presenting at the conference. My dad and I made our list and started buying up our favorites. One of those companies that I later bought was the infamous Bre- X. I put in about $1,000 at around $1 a share, sold at $20, and then was kicking myself as it ran to well over $100; then to crash to zero because of the fraud. I was hooked.
I subscribed to the various junior natural resource newsletters and read as many books as I could on trading and investing. One of the books was Investment Biker, by Jim Rogers. To this day, Jim is my favorite. Through my travels across Europe (where I would go on to meet my wife – she is from Czech Republic), I would visit the different business districts in the different countries and discover what industries are the individual countries were known for. I would ask the question, “Would the great Jim Rogers invest in this country?”
In 2000, I joined my stepbrother as a commodities broker with a small boutique firm out west. The job was more sales than market analysis and trading, so I didn’t last long. Along with my wife and recently born first daughter we packed up and moved to Atlanta, GA where I took a job working for one of the wealthiest families in the state. I worked my way up being the family’s top advisor on asset allocation and risk management. One of the allocations was to acquiring small producing oil wells in the Midwest and acquiring the mineral rights to drill (which we drilled and hit multiple shallow and deep wells). The family also seeded my hedge fund, that focused on hard assets; exclusively mid to large cap equities in the sector.
I made some money but got out of the business. My family was growing, needed stability and for me to be home. My schedule demanded that I was on the road visiting drilling sites and meeting with other business funds and traders. Plus, during this time the natural resource sector became quite depressed.
Which leads me to where we are now. I have gotten back into the game. This time as a sole investor of my own funds. I think we are at a once in a generation time to buy. The natural resource sector is at historic lows when you look at valuations. There is blood in the streets. My goal is to learn about great companies, and then to invest in them .
Andy
The Resource for Resource Stock Investing 