Gary Buisansky and his colleagues at Rand Merchant Bank of Johannesburg have a track record in Africa that is second to none in their fi eld.

RMB, the investment banking arm of FirstRand Bank Ltd. and one of South Africa’s largest publicly traded fi nancial service groups, has brokered or fi nanced deals in over 30 countries in Saharan, West and East Africa since its inception in 1977. It was recently voted by Euromoney 2008 as South Africa’s top investment bank. “It’s our backyard,” says Buisansky, a representative on RMB’s resource fi nance team. “We’re well connected and we’ve got good products.”

RMB has taken note of the number of Canadian mining companies operating on the continent in recent years and has been targeting them with its fi nancial services o! erings. Buisansky says that representatives of the bank attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual trade show in Toronto as well as other major mining conferences and events.

" e resource fi nance team works across the commodity spectrum and provides fi nance facilities for new mines, expansion of existing operations and for acquisitions. In some cases, RMB contributes equity for the completion of feasibility studies.

" e African continent, says Buisansky, holds enormous resource potential since numerous countries are totally unexplored using contemporary techniques, and many previously inaccessible countries have attracted massive investment, especially from TSX-, AIM- and ASX-listed mining companies.

But political uncertainty is a reality in many African nations, and RMB works with project sponsors to establish fi nancing structures that account for and mitigate such risks. One mechanism is through engaging the support of the South African Export Credit Agency against the export of the country’s vast mining contractor experience.

Buisansky adds that the global fi nancial turmoil has a! ected many smaller resource companies and their projects, but RMB will continue to support those with strong fundamentals and good management teams.

CIC Energy Corp., a Tau Capital Group company, is sitting on a mountain of coal in Botswana – some 3 billion tonnes of it – and TSX-listed CIC Energy (ELC:TSX) has big plans for that massive resource.

" e Mmamabula Coal Field, as it is known, will be used to supply the Mmamabula Energy Project, a planned power station that is scheduled to be completed by late 2012 or early 2013, says Erica Belling, Tau’s vice president of investor relations. All of the power produced at the Mmamabula Energy Project is intended for sale to nearby utilities in South Africa and Botswana under long-term purchase agreements. South Africa is currently coping with an electricity shortage that has cost the country’s economy over US$5 billion.

Recently, CIC Energy announced that it has selected Shanghai Electric Group as the preferred engineering, procurement and construction contractor to build the fi rst power station. In addition, funding for the Mmamabula Energy Project is expected to come from development fi nance institutions with a mandate to fi nance infrastructure projects in developing countries, along with export credit agencies and others. " e social and economic benefi ts of the project to the region will be signifi cant.

" e Mmamabula Energy Project is the most advanced major power project that can meet the urgent demand for additional power in southern Africa.

Saber Energy Corp., a private Tau Capital Group company, is developing a world class unconventional gas fi eld in the Karoo Basin in Botswana, Africa.

Southern Africa is facing an energy crisis, and Saber is well positioned to develop and bring a new supply of energy to market. With a land position of almost 6 million acres, Saber’s gas fi eld includes both coalbed methane and shale gas and is expected to hold a large scale resource of recoverable gas.

Botswana is an excellent jurisdiction with the lowest political risk in Africa, says Erica Belling, Tau’s vice president of investor relations. Saber has drilled over 90 wells already and plans to provide gas to o! -takers in Botswana and Southern Africa for fuel supply, electricity, and conversion to liquids.

E N E R G Y C O R PS A B E R

Both Birim and Goldcrest had extensive experience exploring for gold in the West African nations of Ghana and Burkina Faso and had assembled substantial portfolios of properties.

“It was a fantastic opportunity and an ideal situation,” Bullock says about the merger. “We’re excited about our projects and our people. When you marry good people with good projects and you’ve got money to carry you through, you will eventually be successful.”

Volta inherited from its predecessors a combined 29 properties encompassing

over 5,500 square kilometres. Birim and Goldcrest both

had qualifi ed exploration teams of about 30 employees each. " ere was very little overlap in terms of technical and professional expertise, so the two groups could easily be amalgamated. " e merger created a fi nancially stronger entity with a treasury of $25 million in cash and marketable securities.

Bullock says that Volta plans to move forward with exploration programs on its fi ve or six top priority properties, and is open to joint ventures with larger companies on its other properties. " e objective is to advance exploration and development of those lands in exchange for an equity interest.

Volta has completed 23,000 metres of core drilling on its highly promising Gaoua

copper-gold porphyry project in Burkina Faso. " e

results from the core samples

have identifi ed highly promising

copper and gold mineralization in two areas of the 688-square-kilometre property.

Volta has also engaged an outside engineering fi rm to prepare a NI 43-101 report based on the drill results from Gaoua, which is expected to be ready mid-February 2009.

Besides working on its existing portfolio of properties, Volta also plans to acquire additional properties or companies. “We want to be at the forefront of the consolidation that is likely to occur among junior exploration companies in West Africa.”

Along with the company’s inherent strengths, Volta is also working in a region of Africa with a long history of mining. Ghana is the sixth largest gold producer in the world, while three new mines have opened in Burkina Faso in the past year.

As well, both countries are open to foreign investment. " eir mining laws are clear and concise, says Bullock. " ey grant tax holidays to mines starting up and outside companies can repatriate their profi ts. “I consider West Africa to be the best place in the world to work,” says Bullock. “We’re happy to be there in a big way.”

Tuhumwire concedes that he is not exactly a neutral observer. He is, after all, the commissioner of the Department of Geological Surveys and Mines for the landlocked East African nation of nearly 31 million people.

But he also has facts aplenty to support his position. Start with the country’s known mineral deposits. Gold, currently mined by small-scale and artisanal operators, can be found in the south, west, northeast, southeast and centre of Uganda.

Base metals, including copper, cobalt, nickel, lead and zinc, are known to exist in the west, south and northeast. Proven copper reserves at the existing Kilembe mine are estimated at 4.3-million tonnes and the deposit also contains cobalt. Copper-cobalt mineralization is believed to extend beyond the limit of the Kilembe property. Elsewhere, occurrences and deposits of platinum, tin, tungsten, columbite-tantalite, beryl, bismuth and iron have been identifi ed.

" e country is also endowed with industrial minerals. " e world-class Sukulu carbonatite complex has proven phosphorous reserves estimated at 230-million tonnes and may host copper,

vermiculite, pyrochlore, rare earth elements and titanium, among other resources.

But Uganda is under-explored, Tuhumwire notes, and its mineral wealth underdeveloped due partly to past political upheavals. Prior to the military coup that brought Idi Amin to power in 1971, mining generated some 30% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.

But foreign investment dried up completely during the Amin years. Even after he was driven from power in 1979, successive governments did not put a high priority on mining. " at began to change in 2001 when President Yoweri Museveri’s administration adopted a new mineral policy that encouraged the development of mineral resources. Two years later, says Tuhumwire, the Ugandan parliament enacted a mining law that brought the country’s legislative and administrative regimes into line with international practice.

With the changes, foreign companies are now allowed to own mining properties outright, without granting the government a stake, and they can repatriate profi ts to their home country. " e commissioner, rather than the minister, grants exploration and development licences although the minister has the authority to resolve disputes. Licensees also have access to the courts if they disagree with a ministerial decision. Tuhumwire adds that the new system also includes a tax exemption on mining equipment and machinery, as well as other incentives to promote activity.

Finally, the World Bank, African Development Bank and Nordic Development Fund have been fi nancing

a high-resolution, airborne geophysical survey. " e project began in December, 2006 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2008. " e government plans to supplement this work with geological mapping and terrestrial geophysical and geochemical surveys.

“" ese e! orts are beginning to bear fruit,” says Tuhumwire. “We expect to see a lot of interest in Uganda in the next few years.”

Indeed, if the government has its way, the country’s natural wealth fi nally will be unlocked.

Angola is rich in diamonds. Mozambique has enormous coal deposits. Namibia is well-endowed with uranium, zinc and o!shore diamonds. Niger has major uranium deposits and so does Gabon. Gold can be found in Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. "e Democratic Republic of Congo, a country the size of many western European nations, has massive, high-grade copper and cobalt reserves. And so it goes, says Terence Ortslan, managing director of Toronto-based TSO Associates, when asked about Africa as a mining destination. “Many countries have superb, world class deposits,” Ortslan adds. “"ey’re ten out of ten.”

Besides the size and diversity of its mineral wealth, Africa holds other attractions for mining companies, according to some observers. “Africa has not been as extensively explored as North America or Europe,” says Darryl Levitt, counsel with Macleod Dixon LLP, a Canadian-based law firm. “It’s a mineral rich continent and there’s a tendency to make a lot of new discoveries.”

In general, the mining laws and regulations are not as developed as they are in more stable, long-established nations such as Canada and the United States, Levitt adds, which allows companies greater flexibility when running exploration or development programs and makes decision-making easier. Wages and salaries are also much lower in Africa than North America or Europe and that reduces the cost of doing business.

But there are also challenges. "e transportation and communications infrastructure is less developed which makes it costly to move

machinery and equipment to mine sites. Political instability is always a risk. “Some countries like Botswana and Namibia have been very stable in terms of their mining policy,” says Ortslan who is also Chairman of the Canadian Minerals Resources Analysts Group. “Others like to tinker with their laws and regulations. It causes volatility, makes people nervous and they stay away.”

Nonetheless one fact is undisputable - Africa’s mineral production and reserves are world-class.

"ese days, mining executives around the world recognize that the business of extracting minerals from the earth often comes with an expectation that their companies make a contribution to the communities where they are

working. It’s called corporate social responsibility (CSR), and Toronto-based AnyWay Solid Environmental Solutions has developed a line of products and a program to help companies fulfill those obligations.

"e products are calcium-based soil stabilizing powders and are being used in the construction of roads and low-cost housing. "e road product, known as AnyWay Natural Soil Stabilizer or ANSS is mixed with native soils to build roads, while AnyWay’s Soil Block is similarly used to produce large blocks suitable for construction, says AnyWay vice-president Matt

Fisher. Mining companies can use ANSS to create all-weather access to their mineral deposits and Soil Block to construct housing for their workers or as part of their commitment to the community.

AnyWay has also developed what it calls its Rural Community Development Plan to help companies be strategic in fulfilling their CSR obligations. “"e response to this has been tremendous,” says Fisher.

Under this initiative, AnyWay trains local residents to produce blocks using an inexpensive manually-operated block press. “With a team of 10 people and one press, you can make 1,000 blocks a day,” says Fisher. “We have a complete program to train people in the skills they need to build roads, set up a block yard and start producing. "e skills they gain enable them to set up sustainable businesses afterwards.”

To date, AnyWay’s products have been used to build roads and housing for governments and resource companies in a number of African countries, including South Africa, Madagascar, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique. “It is gratifying to see how the technology has improved the lives of Africans,” says Fisher.

While he has played a prominent role in a number of financings, Mason stresses that he is just one member of a team, and a very good team at that. “Fasken Martineau has the deepest mining legal bench that I am aware of in the world,” says Mason, who has been practising for about 10 years. “A lot of firms have a few lawyers who are involved in mining transactions and are excellent, but Faskens has that expertise in Toronto, Vancouver, the Quebec region, Johannesburg and London.”

In fact, Who’s Who Legal has recognized Fasken Martineau’s strength in this area by naming it the global mining law firm of the year for the past four years. “It’s an extraordinary accomplishment that one firm has been granted such a distinction so many years in a row,” adds Mason. “We have several senior partners who have been highlighted in each edition.”

"e firm’s securities and M&A group has worked closely over the last several years with investment banks in Canada and South Africa in connection with corporate finance transactions aimed at raising capital for mining companies

Toronto-based First Uranium Corp., which is making the transition from mine developer to full-fledged producer, has a lot of good things going for it, says Bob Tait, vice-president of investor relations. But for starters consider the following. Both of its South African gold and uranium mines are low-cost, high-yield properties that should have long lives, given the estimated resources.

“We are a unique investment opportunity in that we mine both gold and uranium from both properties,” says Tait. “You’re e!ectively getting two minerals for the cost of one at each site and uranium and gold are enjoying a robust market.”

Utilities around the world are expanding their nuclear power-generating capacity, in part to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. As for gold, the economic turmoil of the past 12 months has driven up the price to record levels.

First Uranium is ideally positioned to take advantage of these trends at its Ezulwini Mine and

Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) tailing recovery operation. Ezulwini is an underground mine located 40 kilometres southwest of Johannesburg, where it operated for about 40 years before being mothballed in the early 1990s when the prices of uranium and gold were depressed. First Uranium has begun extracting ore from existing underground workings and has built new plants to process both minerals.

"e MWS operation, formerly named Bu!elsfontein, will involve extraction of gold and uranium from the tailings of three old mines. At MWS, First Uranium is reprocessing 350 million tonnes of ore, which is stacked some 15 storeys high. Tait describes the tailings as low-grade, high-volume ore that can be processed for a cost of $279 per ounce of gold and $21 per pound of uranium.

Tait adds that both operations are already producing gold and will begin producing uranium in early 2009. When both projects are operating at full capacity, First Uranium is expected to produce 490,000 ounces of gold per year and 2.5 million pounds of uranium.

such as First Uranium, Uranium One Inc., Teal Exploration and Mining Inc., Platmin Ltd. and several other companies. As well, Fasken Martineau has a roster of lawyers who specialize in mining law, not just in Canada but in many other countries as well.

“" ey have a pure mining law background,” says Mason. “" ey can negotiate joint ventures and the key contracts that are vital to the development and operation of a mine.”

While South Africa serves as a base—the fi rm’s Johannesburg o# ce is sta! ed by 10 full-time lawyers—Fasken Martineau’s reach in the region actually extends well beyond that, into the rest of Africa.

“South Africa is the centre of commerce on the continent, but companies have properties and projects in a variety of African nations,” says Mason. “Our focus is really the southern half of Africa.”

Fasken Martineau has a considerable presence in London which includes practitioners with mining, oil and gas and project fi nance expertise.

www.fasken.com

CONSISTENTLY NUMBER ONE

Let Fasken Martineau assist you with financing, regulatory and commercial expertise at every stage of the mining process from exploration through to reclamation.

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John Turner (Canada)+ 1 416 865 4380 jturner@fasken.com

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THE CURRENT ECONOMIC SITUATION forces companies to be selective in their investor relations activities and marketing strategies.

MineAfrica, through its Africa-specifi c programs, provides just that – a focused platform for mining companies, service providers and African governments to promote themselves to an international, senior level audience of fi nancial and mining executives with an interest in Africa.

In addition to mining project updates, seminars include expert presentations on doing business in Africa’s mining industry, covering topics such as changing industry conditions, fi nancing projects in Africa, strategies for surviving the global fi nancial crisis, risk mitigation and corporate social responsibility.

Seminars are currently held in Toronto, Vancouver and London, UK. At the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) show in Toronto each March, MineAfrica organizes an African pavillion which offers its clients a turn-key booth at the largest mining investment show in the world, excellent networking opportunities and participation in the Canada-South Africa Chamber of Business Mining Breakfast and in MineAfrica’s seminar.

Through its 5,500 contact database, high traffi c website, media partnerships and personal relationships with senior level executives active in Africa, MineAfrica also offers its clients cost-effective business development and marketing services. The principals of MineAfrica are Bruce Shapiro and Wayne Floreani who have a combined sixty years of international business development experience, specifi cally in mining in Africa and Canada.

One of the keys to MineAfrica’s success is the effective networking opportunities for participants at its seminars and pavillion at the PDAC trade show. “With our high-level contacts in the African, North American and European mining and fi nancial sectors, and our specifi c focus on Africa, we can provide our participants with personal introductions to potential fi nanciers and joint venture partners,” explains Wayne Floreani.

For more information visit www.mineafrica.com

By 2007, the latest year available, Canadian miners had investments in Africa totalling $14.7 billion, according to an NRC survey of publicly traded companies, as well as another $4 billion to $5 billion in oil and gas assets.

Indeed, Canada is now recognized as one of the giants in African mining. In 2001, Canadian

companies were active in 24 countries on the continent, and by 2007 that number had grown to 35. " e vast majority of that activity, 91% by one count, is concentrated in eight countries (in order of importance): South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Africa accounted for 11% of Canadian mining assets in 2001, but by 2007 the fi gure had jumped to 17%. " at startling growth refl ects the rising value of Africa’s untapped resources, but also Canada’s importance as a global centre for fi nancing mining ventures.

" e TSX is now the most important market in the world for raising mining equity, according to Greg Ferron, senior manager of global resources with the exchange. He points out that TSX-listed companies last year raised $19 billion in mine equity fi nancing.

Over the past fi ve years, 81% of all such mine equity fi nancings were completed by companies listed on the exchange. " e TSX is the world leader in listings, with some 1,300 publicly traded mining ventures, including half of all exploration companies—numbers that certainly support the exchange’s claim to being number one in mining.

Andrew Dinning, president and chief operating o# cer of Moto Goldmines Ltd. of Perth, Australia, says this about his company’s namesake property, located in the northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) near the Ugandan border: It has “high-quality ounces and there are lots of them.”

To date the company has completed in excess of 340,000 metres of drilling on its Moto property and has defi ned more than 10.3 million ounces of indicated gold resources plus another 11.3 million ounces of inferred. Dinning says Moto has set a target date of 2011 to start production from open-pit mining operations.

It will begin with established reserves of close to 4 million ounces with forecast cash operating costs of less than US$300 per ounce. " e mine will require an investment of nearly US$500 million and will produce around 400,000 ounces annually.

But there a few hurdles to overcome. " e fi rst is the DRC Revisitation Commission,

a government body set up to review agreements reached between a former government and outside mining companies. Dinning says that he expects the revisitation of Moto’s agreements will be fi nished by the end of 2008.

Dinning also points out that the confl ict that persists in the central eastern part of the DRC is located a signifi cant distance from the Moto project. He says the company’s property is about 500 kilometres north of this troubled area. " e problems related to historical ethnic issues between the Tutsis and the Hutus have been centred around the border with Rwanda, he says, and there is little if any easy access from the Kivu region to the Haut Ulele province where they work.

Meanwhile, the company received a major vote of confi dence in early 2008 when Sir Sam Jonah, the non-executive chairman of the company and well known African mining fi gure, invested $7 million of his own cash in the company. " e government of the DRC holds a 30% ownership stake through a para-statal organization known as L’O# ce des Mines d’or de Kilo-Moto (OKIMO).

“We think it’s one of the best gold projects anywhere,” adds Dinning, “and with such a large amount of high-quality ounces, it is pretty hard to beat on any metric.”

And the numbers demonstrate that fact. A few years back, EDC senior o# cials acknowledge, they were not very active on the continent. " e latest available fi gures show that this situation has changed—in 2007, EDC pumped $700 million into 25 Canadian mining companies working in eight African countries. " at represented about one-third of the $2 billion that EDC advanced in support of some 350 domestic fi rms who are active there.

“Africa went into a deep slumber after the end of the Cold War and the world forgot about the continent,” says Rizwan Haider, African regional manager with EDC’s international business development group. “Natural resources have brought investors back. " e doors are open for mining activity to resume and Africa has gained prominence within EDC in the last few years.”

" at new openness cuts across all EDC product lines, which include corporate lending on the basis of balance sheet risk, project fi nancing, equipment-secured loans and political risk insurance. But EDC o# cials do look at all applications for support from the perspective of the corporation’s mandate—to support qualifi ed Canadian investment and to promote the export of Canadian goods and services.

Applicants must also comply with EDC’s corporate social responsibility framework. “We set the bar high,” says senior CSR advisor Yolanda Banks. “But once a client has met that bar, the deal is stronger and has a better chance of getting to close.”

Communities must be consulted and company o# cials must demonstrate that they have received

the support of local residents. EDC is looking for town hall meetings and evidence that messages are delivered e! ectively, in native languages if necessary, especially when working in areas where there are high rates of poverty and illiteracy.

EDC also expects compliance with environmental standards. “Mining can have negative impacts on local ecosystems,” says Banks. “We’re looking for measures to mitigate those negative e! ects. Our environmental requirements look at how you have dealt with the e! ects on water, soil, atmosphere and even noise levels.”

EDC o# cials add that Africa will continue to be a strategically important market. Worldwide demand for commodities had, until recently, driven up prices and intensifi ed exploration and development activity. Canadian junior mining companies have taken prominent roles in that activity, and consequently need fi nancing of various types. Recognizing the opportunity, many governments on the continent adopted a more open-door policy to foreign investment in the mining sector. " ey have re-written mining laws and regulations to enhance transparency and accountability.

" e long-term outlook is therefore positive. “We have a lot of activity in the pipeline at the moment,” says Haider, “and we are optimistic about next year despite the economic outlook.”

If you spend much time watching CNN, says David Creighton, chairman of the Canada - South Africa Chamber of Business, chances are you won’t be investing in Africa, either directly or indirectly, by acquiring stocks in companies with assets on the continent.

And that would be a big mistake, adds Creighton, who is intimately acquainted with the business environment in Africa through his private Montreal-based investment fund and his work with the chamber. "e chamber, which has 130 corporate members, mostly Canadian, and a database of 3,500 contacts, was founded in 1994 to promote the flow of trade and investment between Canada and post-apartheid South Africa. Since then, the organization’s mandate has grown to include southern Africa.

"e Canada - South Africa Chamber of Business has become the premier African-focused business association in Canada, with a number of cornerstone events on its yearly calendar, including its Indaba dinner, annual mining breakfast, and corporate social responsibility seminar. Previous speakers comprise a who’s who of business and government leaders in the region, including Nicky Oppenheimer, Cyril Ramaphosa, Derek Cooper, Ian Cockerill, Peter Kinver and Bridgette Radebe.

“You can’t paint the whole continent with one brush,” says Creighton, who is president of Cordiant Capital, a company that has invested in projects in Egypt, Senegal, Madagascar and more than a dozen other African countries. “If you do, you can miss out on terrific investment opportunities.”

He says several factors have combined to improve the climate for investors in mining and other sectors. First, communications have improved immensely with the rapid increase in cellphone ownership and service coverage. Second, international pressure has convinced many African governments to begin bringing their investment laws and regulations into line with those of developed countries.

“Africa is an incredibly compelling story,” adds Creighton. “Some of the fastest improving countries in the world are in Africa, and the Canada - South Africa Chamber of Business can assist its members in being part of this growth.”