Fortress Base Metals Corp.: President\'s Letter to Shareholders

Tag : base metals

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 9, 2008) - FortressBase Metals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FBM) ("FBM" or the "Company")announces that in connection with the recent changes to management,President Mark Hewett has issued a letter to shareholders of theCompany, which is reproduced below.
Shareholders,
It has been just over one month since I joined the Fortress BaseMetals team. Although there has already been a news release, thiswas just the obligatory announcement of the new president alongwith my background. What I believe is more important and relevantto the shareholders of Fortress Base Metals is to know why I joinedthe team and my ideas and commitment to making this companysuccessful.
I started my career as an Engineer working in the oil and gasindustry in 1993 and later moved into municipal engineeringconsulting. After attaining my Professional Engineer designation, Idecided to venture into the area of finance. Over the course of 10years, I built a successful Investment Advisory practice atCanaccord Capital. With the practice now in the capable hands of myformer business partner, it is time for a new entrepreneurialchallenge. The opportunity to run Fortress Base Metals waspresented to me via a long-established business contact and is anexceptional chance to build a strong public company in these uniquemarket conditions.
One may ask why I chose Fortress Base Metals as the company to workwith and why now? There are three key reasons. The first is mybelief in the commodities cycle, particularly copper. I believe weare in the midst of a super cycle for commodities that will lastfor at least another 10 years. With the average Asian consumer onlyjust beginning to attain middle class, the demand for commoditieswill continue to grow. Companies that successfully execute on anaggressive commodity growth strategy will do extremely well in thenext few years. The second reason is the current management andboard of FBM. The key to doing well in any public company is astrong, dedicated management team. This board has given me thesupport I need to build the experienced management group that willmake Fortress Base Metals successful. The third reason is thestrength of Fortress Base Metals assets. All our properties haveNational Instrument 43-101 compliant technical reports andrepresent a solid basis for further organic exploration anddevelopment work. The properties are terrific building blocks forgrowth and future investment each for their own specific reasons. Iwill be discussing each of these properties in more detail inupcoming corporate updates.
The next question that investors are probably more interested in,is what am I going to do and how quickly am I going to do it? Let'sstart with the new name for the company. The board has decided torename Fortress Base Metals to more accurately reflect thedirection we want to go with the company and to appeal to ademographic we aim to attract. The company is in the process ofchanging its name to Lions Gate Metals. This is the time when weare embarking on a new, aggressive strategy and a strong new nameputs the marker down. Lions Gate Metals is a name with strength andhas meanings that resonate in our home base of Vancouver, B.C. aswell as in Asia. Since a large aspect of our growth will be comingfrom Asia, our team found this name to be a natural fit for ourcompany.
With the name change underway, who will comprise our managementteam? We will be building the team in two ways. The first will bethe team members who will work with me on a daily basis. Thisprocess has already started and in the next few weeks we shouldhave on board a new VP of Exploration and a new CFO, both of whomwill be committed to Lions Gate on a full time basis. The firsttask for the new VP of Exploration will be to focus on developing adrill program for the Poplar and Kelly Creek deposits. The new CFOwill assist me in negotiating future merger and acquisitiontransactions. The second aspect of the team is the support of thebest board of advisors possible. There are a number of ways tobuild this board, but two key credentials stand out: good Asianmarket knowledge; and good access to properties in North America.Our advisory board will have both.
Once the new name and management team are in place the ongoingfocus will be to grow the company. The new mission statement is agreat summation: 'To build a large cap mining company based on thefoundation of our valuable assets by executing an aggressive mergerand acquisition strategy, thereby positioning Lions Gate Metals asa leader in the global copper market'. We will be looking at anyand all high potential metal plays in North America. With thecurrent market environment there are many orphaned seniormanagement teams and under-valued properties available for a wellcapitalized company to acquire. We also have access to a number ofother world class projects through our extensive people network.This semi bear market is a perfect opportunity for us. The timingto build aggressively is now. We will also be looking at aggressiveorganic growth through joint ventures on our current and futureproperties in order to fund drill programs to prove out theresources. This will in large part be done with Asian investors.
Going forward I commit to keeping investors fully informed of ourprogress including regular shareholder and public updates.
Lions Gate Metals is an amazing opportunity for me and the team butmore importantly for the shareholders of LGM. With the new,dedicated management group being assembled and the current marketenvironment providing so many attractive opportunities, the futureis shimmering indeed.
Sincerely,
Mark Hewett, President & Director
This press release contains forward looking statements whichinvolve known and unknown risks, delays, and uncertainties notunder our control which may cause our actual results, performanceor achievements to be materially different from the results,performance or expectation implied by these forward lookingstatements. In particular the commodities markets are characterizedby cyclical behavior and significant market fluctuations that canbe unpredictable. Our ability to raise funding to meet our mediumand long term objectives, and our ability to identify andsuccessfully acquire new assets or merge with potential targetcompanies is subject to numerous risks including market factorsthat are beyond our control. Our existing properties are subject toloss of interest if we do not meet contractual obligations. Thereis no guarantee that any of our existing or future properties willcontain economically extractable quantities of mineralization.Accordingly readers are cautioned that this release provides adiscussion on our plan and expectations, and that there is noguarantee that we will be successful in completing and meetingthese plans and expectations, respectively.
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The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for theadequacy or accuracy of this press release.
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