Last July, of 2008, a couple of relative unknowns started working their way around to get their Mining project funded. Firstly they went to eBank and then they, advised by Ricdic, they went publicly with their plans. Their IPO was, of course, critically reviewed (read: Attacked) as well as audited (by me actually).

Dividends - I may still have valid API keys for all the toons involved in this project but I've never checked again since the initial audit. However I can report from my own wallet, and thus api records, that the people at the L.U.R.C.H. project maintained a regular dividend schedule until this past February. The dividend was initially averaging 3.6% per month but it was climbing to the point where it was at 7.2% monthly as of the last dividend payment in January. (I can not as accurately report dividends prior to October 2008 due to a small failing in the API journal itself - later fixed.)

Communication - An in game mailing list was available and regularly updated. Mephie & Dallas23 regularly posted business reports as well as any event detrimental (in the slightest) without hesitation. There were times where one or the other where unavailable but this was, from my own observations, simply due to real life commitments doing what real life commitments do: Interfere with Eve.

Both of the players running this IPO interacted with me on an almost daily basis via a chat channel created by my former PvP corp. (Think bar and you'll understand the nature of the channel). In fact though I am a long time resident and channel admin both players were more active and responsive, regularly, than I am on my best day(s).

Closing - I've noticed that real life has interfered with the online times of Mephie(Headmaster Lurch) as well as Dallas23. Much more so for Mephie though. This was likely the primary reason for this IPO to finally close its doors. I might add this is part speculation on my part as the officially stated reason was GTC Prices. (If you've read the links you'll understand the importance of the GTC's.)

When the decision to close was made the Mining toons were auctioned off (I do not have links) and the funds gained were issued out via dividends. 2,802,188,959.13 was issued to me on the 14th of this month. This would equal my 1 billion initial investment and a 1.8 billion final return. This should not be confused with regular dividends. I estimate the closing numbers on this project as:

Duration: 9 months
Initial Investment: 1 Billion
Total Est Returns: 2,090,510,128.04
Monthly Return Rate: 23.23%

Personal Comment - I hope to continue interacting with both players well beyond this point. They've been very active in engaging me for my knowledge whenever something comes up as well as sharing their own knowledge and discoveries with me and my friends in our channel. Actually calling them "my friends" is unfair to Mephie and Dallas23 as those players are their friends too... now.