12MA Y 200813582429 12MA Y 200813582222 Global Equity Financing for Mining Companies $2.9 $3.1 $3.5 $8.4 $9.6 $10.8 $9.7 $26.5 $50.3 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Equity Fin a ncing s (U S$ b l n ) Equity Raised (US$ Billions) Source: Gamah International, TSX Group Inc. A similar increase in mining company financings has taken place on the TSX and the TSX- V as demonstrated in the chart below. Junior mining companies have taken advantage of generally stronger commodities prices in recent years by raising new equity capital to finance exploration activities. In 2007, junior mining companies raised US$7.2 billion on the TSX and the TSX- V , up from US$5.4 billion and US$2.6 billion in 2006 and 2007, respectively. New Equity Raised by Mining Companies on Canadian Markets $2.2 $4.1 $5.1 $4.0 $10.1 $17.0 $0 $8 $6 $4 $2 $10 $12 $14 $16 $18 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Equity Fin a ncing s (U S$ b l n ) TSX-V TSX Source: Gamah International, TSX Group Inc. T rends in Mineral Drilling Services Management believes that the previous data supports their view of a number of broad trends in the mineral drilling services sector. – Heightened exploration expenditures — m anagement’s view is that the significantly increased expenditures of the last few years are indicative of a secular trend driven by a significant period of underinvestment and the general scarcity of new significant mineral deposits relative to ongoing increases in underlying demand. Management expects this heightened level of exploration expenditure will prevail across both in — and near-mine as well as greenfield environments. – Increased frontier exploration — the dearth of new discoveries and reducing reserve life of many commodities has pushed exploration both into more remote locations and to greater depths than previously targeted. This requires additional technical and logistical requirements from mining drilling service providers. 26