Letter to the Editor: Back off Berukoff

As a former Western Editor of your newspaper, I was disappointed to read the Lion One Metals (LIO-V) story (T.N.M., May 2-8, 2011).

Not only does it smack of tabloid journalism, it grossly understates the track record of one of Western Canada’s most successful mining entrepreneurs. If one could fault Wally Berukoff for the checkered history of his Cuban real estate company, Leisure Canada (LCN-V), it’s that he had too much staying power – an attribute that characterizes virtually all of this country’s most successful mining entrepreneurs.

The reference to him “promoting penny stocks” would seem to fly in the face of reality given the fact his Lion One Metals has raised more than $25 million in the past six months at prices ranging from $1.00 to $1.55. Some of the placees were well-heeled international investment funds.

One of Wally’s outstanding recent successes was simply ignored by your reporter: La Mancha Resources (LMA-T) which was sold to the French nuclear giant, Areva, and is a significant gold producer. For him and the company’s shareholders La Mancha was an outstanding corporate and market success.

From my vantage point, I can only conclude that the market is betting he will do it again!

David Duval, director,

Lion One Metals,

Vancouver, B.C.