Mr. Thurston: The company has actually been around for many years but underwent a change of business to the resource exploration sector in November of 2007 under the name of Raytec Metals Corp. Initially, the company was focused on exploration for commodities that were believed to be of interest by the emerging BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China, such as key offerings, iron ore for infrastructure, uranium for power, and potash and sulfur fertilizers for food production. We were quite successful with this business model and raised over $30 million in less than a year. However, when the financial crisis hit beginning in late 2008, the markets for all these commodities were severely weakened. After months of searching for new opportunities to increase value for our shareholders and our investors, management and directors of the company decided to concentrate on the oil and gas sector. So in May of 2009, Raytec farmed in on several properties with Africa Oil Corp., a Canadian oil and gas exploration company with assets in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, which is also a member of the Lundin Group of Companies, who are very successful. With this new focus on oil in Africa, we underwent a name change and we became Lion Energy Corp., which is now an international oil and gas exploration company that is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange with the symbol LEO. We currently have investment assets in Canada and, as I've mentioned, the farm-in operations in Africa. The company is focused on acquiring, exploring and developing oil and gas reserves.
TWST: In light of your business model, how do you assess the risk in Somalia and Kenya?
Mr. Thurston: That's a very good question. It's a well-founded concern that there is strong risk politically in Somalia. However, in Somalia itself, the main problems tend to be in the south to central regions of the country. The northern areas of Somaliland and Puntland are semi-autonomous regions in their own right and have proven to be much more stable areas, which we believe are amenable to foreign investment. Lion Energy believes that the geology in this region is underexplored and holds the potential for a very large discovery. We believe the geological upside in these areas mitigates the potential political risk. Secondly, we believe the risk is further mitigated by the successful track record and business strategy of our partners, Africa Oil Corp. Their willingness to go into less-desirable countries with underexplored, highly prospective geology has lead to their success. With Africa Oil as operators and with their successful track record, we believe we've partnered up with a good team, and that's why we've accepted that risk.
Tickers included in this excerpt: TSX.V-LEO
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