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Celebrating

seas. Now I’ve set foot in six African team for the past six years. These peo- 25
countries, three Asian nations and one in ple are not just colleagues – they are
Latin America, with the promise of more friends, and lifelong friends at that.
to come. Longevity is in Paydirt’s blood. Happy
Of course, what has and still makes 25th birthday Paydirt. Here’s to (at least) Years
Paydirt great is the people and I feel another 25 more. Est.1994
very privileged to have been part of the

Michael editorial experience with Paydirt, it is expected, with Barry joined by Execu-
indeed the time spent on the ground at
tive Chairman Bill Repard and Ross
Cairnduff projects and conferences around Aus- Louthean, who had founded the com-
tralia globally that stick with me – along pany. I felt an instant rapport with Barry
with the memorable personalities and but couldn’t quite figure out Bill’s role in
characters that came in and out of the it all.
building over the period. I’ve long forgotten what that day’s
ecording and amplifying the contri- My employment interview was a good third interview was, as I abandoned it
Rbution of the junior exploration and indication of what to expect on that immediately after leaving Paydirt.
aspirant mining sector to wealth crea- front. At the end of 2004, I was get- Instead, I headed to the World Dia-
tion and future economic growth is how ting increasingly concerned about pin- mond Conference the following day to
I would best describe what we set out ning down a city-based, media-related get more insight into Paydirt. After a
to do at Paydirt during my experience role to smooth the move back to Perth few sessions, I really did start to sweat
working with the company. from Kalgoorlie, where I had spent four the technical gap in my knowledge, al-
The legitimacy, independence and extraordinary and eye-opening years though that is hardly a concern these
relevance of both the publications and managing a community newspaper. My days given the non-existent state of the
suite of conferences is why readers, ad- wife had secured a merit-based teach- Australian diamond industry.
vertisers, delegates and sponsors have ing position in Perth for the start of 2005 I flew home later that afternoon and
stayed true to the Paydirt business and and we had everything in place, except was nervously confident about the Pay-
allowed it to weather the mining cycle meaningful employment for myself. dirt role, and as the more I reflected on
bust on the back of the Global Financial I recall an unusual set of circumstanc- it, the more thought it was the role and
Crisis, in addition to a highly disruptive es around the interview with Paydirt’s company for me. Later that evening, while
period for media enterprises of all de- editor at the time Barry Avery, who up having a beer in the now boarded-up
nominations. until that point was the only person I had Federal Hotel in Kalgoorlie, Barry called
The half-a-dozen years I worked in spoken to from the company since ap- asking me not to accept any other roles
West Perth with the team from 2005 plying for the role. I had decided to fly until he got back to me with an offer.
through to 2011 offered a front row seat return from Kal to Perth and hire a car I drove out of Kalgoorlie on Christmas
and some sobering insights into just how to attend the three interviews I’d lined Eve that year to start the Deputy Editor
explosive investment sentiment can be up. It was an unusual move given my role in January and never looked back.
when acting on speculative capital mar- preference for driving but perhaps an Three years later I was very proud to
kets (in either direction), as well as those indication of my confidence that one of spend 12 months in the editor’s chair
businesses that operate at the periphery. the interviews might come good. while Barry took some time out of the
Part of my pitch to get my first role at The first interview, for a media officer office to publish an industry book, then
Paydirt as Deputy Editor of the maga- role with a local government, did not go on his return was offered the outstand-
zines at the end of 2004 was my Kalgoor- well. They asked me some very binary ing opportunity to stay on in the role of
lie heritage and exposure to the mining questions before putting me through a general manager working alongside Bill
sector, but I quickly realised my technical high school-style exam with a written on the conference and advertising as-
understanding of the exploration game scenario that needed to be turned into pects of the business.
was severely lacking. Fortunately, there a media release. I learned a great deal about business
were plenty of people within and travel- I left feeling quite disheartened (and in general from Bill in that time and ever
ling in the orbit of the Paydirt team on a little bit disrespected) from the bizarre since, as I continue to catch-up with him
hand to invest time and effort in building experience and headed out to West on a regular basis as a mentor since
that skill set and it quickly improved. Perth but the Paydirt office proved diffi- moving into the PR business. Current
We never claimed to be technical ex- cult to find. Eventually I had to abandon editor Dominic Piper was also working
perts, but after enough site visits and the car and continue the search on foot, in senior roles at the business during
enough face-time with genuine project finally identifying the correct building most of the time I was at Paydirt, where
developers talking through the economic and entrance with minutes to spare. we became close friends and confi-
cases for their particular asset, you do Walking in the door, the foyer was lit- dants which also continues today.
get to the point where you can tell a com- tered with boxes, posters and banners I would like to say more, but I have
et from a meteor. And, although a proud- and a very busy conference manager already exceeded the word limit he set
ly pro-industry publication, I am sure the getting a literal truck-load of materials me for this assignment.
loyal readers and investors consuming labelled up for the World Diamond Con-
our editorial features on return from site ference the next day.
could also read between the lines.
In terms of lasting memories from my The interview was more like what I

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