Lion One Metal’s Chairman and CEO Walter H. Berukoff holds a 30-year lasting track record as a successful entrepreneur, merchant banker, real estate developer and financier. In the global mining industry Berukoff is known as one of the “big game hunters” since he was responsible for the discovery of some world-class gold- and copper deposits both in North- and South America. Through his privately held merchant bank Red Lion Management Ltd. he was involved in the foundation and building of several famous mining companies such as Miramar Mining, Northern Orion Resources and La Mancha Resources.

In 1993 Red Lion Management purchased the Con Mine in the Canadian Northwest Territories for $25 million CAD from Kennecott Exploration, which is today a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group. Subsequently Berukoff’s private company sold the mine to Miramar Mining. And under his chairmanship the Con Mine became a very significant gold mine in Canada with over 730,000 produced ounces during the years 1993-2000. Finally in 2007, Miramar Mining was sold to Newmont Mining for $1.5 billion USD.

Back in 1998, as Chairman of Northern Orion Resources, Mr. Berukoff initiated the first foreign mining venture of its kind in Cuba since the revolution: The successful activation of the Mantua open pit gold- and copper mine.

Mr. Berukoff was in charge of another significant transaction in the year 2006 which has made a great stir in the mining industry: Within a reverse takeover, the gold producing and exploration assets of Areva NC – a subsidiary of the French Areva Group which is today a global leader in nuclear energy and major player in renewable energies, were moved into La Mancha 

Resources. As a result, this reverse takeover created a very successful global gold producer on the Toronto Stock Exchange. La Mancha was sold for $493 million USD to Weather II Investments owned by the Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris in 2012.

But Walter Berukoff also holds a significant track record within various exploration projects around the globe. At Northern Orion he developed the Aqua Rica deposit in Catamarca, Argentina. One day the rich ore body could be recognized as the largest copper producer in the world. The deposit has a measured and indicated resource of 14 billion pounds of copper and 8.9 million ounces of gold. Northern Orion was sold to Yamana Gold for $1.07 billion USD in 2007.

During his career Walter Berukoff has raised over one billion dollars for global mining projects and in these days he also has a clear vision for Lion One Metals Ltd. and the Tuvatu Gold Project: Building a world-class low-cost producing gold mine in the South West Pacific Region.

In 2007 Emperor Mines Ltd., the former operator of Vatukoula in Fiji had been taken over by South African based Durban Roodepoort Deep Gold Ltd. Their minority interest in the Porgera Gold- and Silver Mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG) was sold to Barrick Gold for $250 million USD. Emperor could settle all is debt and was keeping $130 million USD, but not before selling off their Fijian assets including the mining rights to Westech Gold Pty Ltd. They wrapped up this transaction and moved on. Mr. Berukoff recognized this opportunity and through his merchant bank he funded the Westech purchase.

The explanation why the Tuvatu Gold Project had been placed on care and maintenance instead of preparing it for a mining operation is very simple: Emperor had been forced to conserve cash to manage its margins and service debt when gold prices dipped below $300 USD per ounce in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By the time gold prices recovered in 2004-2006 the company was preparing to exit Fiji. Tuvatu was put on the shelf and this enabled Red Lion Management to acquire Emperor’s assets in Fiji. Afterwards Mr. Berukoff decided to sell his interest in Vatukoula and vended Tuvatu and Emperor’s exploration assets into Lion One Limited Fiji. At that time he reviewed Emperor’s positive feasibility study for Tuvatu and visited the project site with Emperor’s best Fijian geologists. He finally came to the conclusion that it is a great geologic environment: The Tuvatu Gold Project, as a typical high-grade, low-

sulphidation epithermal gold deposit in the South West Pacific Region hosted in a volcanic-intrusive sequence within a postulated collapsed caldera setting, has some ideal attributes a “big game hunter” in the gold mining industry is looking for.

During the first three years Walter Berukoff funded Lion One Limited Fiji privately, prior to the formation of Lion One Metals Ltd. in early 2011 through a reverse takeover at the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) between X-Tal Minerals Corp. and American Eagle Resources Inc. From the beginning Mr. Berukoff has been focused on obtaining the necessary permits in order to start with the exploration workings and to get the Tuvatu Gold mine into production. Today Lion One Metals holds the approval for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), has secured a 21-year Surface Lease Agreement in 2014 and just recently, a Special Mining Lease has been granted by the Ministry of Land and Resources. At the present time the management is looking forward to the results of a pending Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).

Lion One’s capital structure is still intact with over $5 million CAD in working capital. The company follows a multifaceted approach: On the one hand initiating production within scalable, modular mining operations, and on the other hand funding further exploration and development. This combined strategy is not new in the mining industry. Harmony Gold and Newcrest Mining are jointly developing the giant Wafi-Golpu gold- and copper project in PNG. In late 2012 they had to change direction due to a new feasibility study which estimated the total capital expenditures over the entire mine life at $9.8 billion USD. Instead they are now concentrating on low risk and expandable modular mining operations, funding further development expenses through cash flow.

For Lion One Metals the Tuvatu Gold Project represents a very unique situation: It is extremely difficult for a junior gold miner to discover, develop, finance, and permit a gold mine. There are a lot of factors out of your control. Often the market remains irrational and behaves very ambivalent over a time period much longer than you can stay solvent – which is a typical inherent risk for junior gold mining companies. But the Tuvatu Gold Project was already significantly de-risked when it was acquired and Lion One was steadily focused to do the same.

In these challenging times it is important to know that regardless of market conditions or 

sentiment in the industry, there will always be a demand for new gold mines as the established ones must replace their ounces and the market will pay more for less risk. Lion One Metals has a great positioning and visibility in the industry with permitted mining operations on a high-grade gold deposit in a very stable jurisdiction that actively supports mining.

…to be continued…

With best wishes
Maurice Höwler