👤Aaron Love, Host, Producer, and Founder, Ones Ready Podcast
🎙️Lindsey Schultz, CEO of MRC Recruiting
In this wide-ranging conversation, host Lindsey Schultz welcomes geologist turned royalty sleuth and founder of Precision Mineral Accounting, PMA, Samuel Siebenaler. Sam traces an unlikely path into mining, from the U.S. Army Signal Corps and encrypted communications, to a geology degree he pursued simply because it was interesting, to mine geology and production accounting at Newmont. The turning point came at Cripple Creek and Victor, where he helped calculate royalties and lived through audits from big firms and private royalty holders. He saw a persistent gap; few people could follow the physical flow of rock and metal, then tie it cleanly to the flow of money. PMA was born to bridge that gap, providing financial assurance for mineral-linked payments to royalty holders, minority equity partners, Indigenous communities, and governments.
Sam explains how money waterfalls from a mine through states, municipalities, and trusts, with each handoff creating a checkpoint that deserves verification. Most discrepancies are not malfeasance; they are training gaps, turnover, broken spreadsheets, or unchecked assumptions that persist. His advice to payees, do not be invisible. If you never ask questions, do not expect operators to spend extra hours on accuracy. Contracts sit at the heart of it all; hundreds of millions can hinge on a sentence, and legacy agreements that run with the land can be ambiguous or operationally impractical. If five interpretations exist, operators will choose the one that favors them unless challenged, so dialogue and equitable updates matter.
On chain of custody, Sam sees potential in blockchain, particularly as the sector reprocesses historic waste and tailings. Ownership still runs with the land, and many piles were not meticulously tracked. Before you turn a shovel, map the legitimate owners, negotiate splits, and document the methodology. Producing first and sorting ownership later will be far more painful and costly.
Entrepreneurship and leadership thread through the episode. Sam credits the military with focus, thick skin, and a mission first mindset, then shares candid lessons as a founder, enjoy the ride, expect surprises, and own your mistakes because they often land on your team. He and Lindsey dig into hiring, interviews as imperfect predictors, culture and belonging over checklists, and building teams with complementary strengths.
Looking ahead, Sam flags structural pressures, smelting and refining concentration in China, geopolitics moving markets, exploration capital constraints, and a junior model with real shortcomings. Outside capital is growing, old pools are shrinking, and government interest in critical minerals is accelerating. Communication remains a missed opportunity. Lindsey’s soapbox, mining websites and pitches often speak only to insiders. If we want new investors and talent, we must lead with purpose, plain language, and outcomes.
Final takeaways, verify mineral linked payments, invest in chain of custody, engage early on ownership for tailings and shared circuits, embrace diverse perspectives, and be ready for a cycle that will reward clarity, transparency, and speed.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: ⏱️
0:00 – Podcast Intro and the “Second Time Is the Charm” Redo
1:00 – Sam’s Origin Story: Military Service to Geology
3:00 – From Graduate Research to Newmont and Mine Accounting
4:00 – Why Sam Started PMA
6:00 – What Precision Mineral Accounting Actually Does
7:00 – How Royalty and Tax Payments “Waterfall” Through Different Stakeholders
8:00 – Blockchain, Chain of Custody, and Mineral Traceability
10:00 – Ownership Complexity in Toll Milling, Leach Pads, and Tailings
11:00 – Why Most Payment Errors Come From Systems, Turnover, and Missed Details
12:00 – Why Royalty Recipients Need to Ask Questions, Not Just Cash Checks
15:00 – Legacy Assets, Restarts, and Rising Gold Prices Creating New Payment Questions
16:00 – Why Contracts and Wording Matter So Much in Mineral Payments
18:00 – Reading Mining Contracts Through an Operational Lens
19:00 – The Entrepreneurial Shift and Learning to Figure Things Out
22:00 – Not Every Job Is for Everyone: Entrepreneurship and Personality Fit
23:00 – Military Lessons That Helped Sam in Mining and Leadership
25:00 – Why Interviews Often Miss Great People
27:00 – Hiring for Team Fit, Not Just Technical Skill
30:00 – Big Companies, Small Teams, and the Real Challenge of Hiring Well
34:00 – Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Better Team Performance
36:00 – Why Different Perspectives Create Better Solutions
38:00 – Leadership, Delegation, and Letting People Own the Plan
40:00 – The Weight of Leadership and Being Responsible for the Team
43:00 – How Leaders Accidentally Create Pressure and Extra Work
45:00 – Owning Mistakes and Leading With Open Communication
47:00 – Gold Cycles, Industry Memory, and Repeating Old Mistakes
50:00 – Geopolitics, Critical Minerals, and the Future of Mining
52:00 – Mining’s Reputation Problem and the Need for Better Public Communication
55:00 – Innovation, New Stakeholders, and Fresh Pressure on the Industry
58:00 – Mining’s Messaging Problem and Why Purpose Needs to Be Clearer
1:02:00 – Why Companies Hesitate to Be More Public-Facing
1:04:00 – Public Perception, Permitting, and Double Standards Around Mining
1:07:00 – Industry Silos and the Need for More Cross-Discipline Collaboration
1:10:00 – New Conferences, New Rooms, and Starting From Scratch With Networking
1:13:00 – Practical Networking Advice for Students and Professionals
1:19:00 – Reprocessing Tailings and the Risks Around Historic Ownership
1:20:00 – Why Companies Must Resolve Ownership Before Reprocessing Waste and Tailings
1:22:00 – Social License, Community Expectations, and Who Wants a Share of the Value
1:24:00 – What Sam Looks for When Hiring: Trust, Soft Skills, and Gut Feel
1:27:00 – Hiring People Who Think Differently From You
1:29:00 – Final Advice on PMA, Entrepreneurship, and Enjoying the Journey
Connect with us on LinkedIn and check out monthly episodes of Ore-atory: Elevating Mining Minds on Apple Podcast or Spotify, where we continue to explore the mining industry workspace.
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