Q:When and why was this web site developed?

A: It was conceived in the fall of 2006 following extensive review of where and how public company financial information could be accessed on the Internet. That, in combination with the rapidly changing global economic landscape, relocation of manufacturing jobs, the U.S. housing markets, U.S. consumer spending, the demographic of public company investors and their escalating use of the Internet as an investment research tool, led to the development of this web site.

Q:What steps were taken to determine whether the idea of this website would be useful to investors?

A: Following development of a 'mocked-up' website in late 2006, Presidents and Directors of approximately 20 Canadian public companies that participate in the Mining and Oil & Gas Industries were contacted. Of these virtually all thought the website concept would be of great interest to investors, and the majority of them offered to have their companies commit to paying a yearly fee in exchange for having their company's data embedded in the web site.

In January, 2007, independent surveys were conducted in the U.S. and Canada of persons who fell into the 'Investor Demographic' this web site is targeting. These surveys strongly suggested that the web site concept would find strong interest among such investors, but that interest would be less in the event funds were collected from the companies whose data was embedded in the web site.

As a result of the foregoing, it was decided that in order to maintain the independence and objectivity of the web site money would not be taken from the companies whose data was embedded.

Q:What distinguishes StockResearchPortal.com from other stock market related web sites?

A: There are a number of important differentiators, including the facts that:

• StockResearchPortal.com is a niche web site, focusing on broad economic issues in the first instance, the Mining and Oil & Gas industries in the second instance, and Canadian Small Cap Mining and Oil & Gas Companies in the third instance;
• No recommendations are made through the web site, and no advice is given. The web site is a tool for investors interested in Canadian Small Cap Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. It will empower investors with information to allow them to conduct proper research and due diligence on the companies whose data is embedded in it;
• Data on companies is consistently organized and formatted for ease of use across all companies embedded in the web site; and,
• Members are readily able to compare companies by industry category, sub-industry category, and by sub-industry geography (place of principal operation).

Q:Who are the data providers to the web site?

A: Five companies provide data feeds:

• Capital IQ, a division of Standard and Poor's. Capital IQ is one of the world's largest data providers. It provides data that enables StockResearchPortal.com to screen companies pursuant to the methodology described in Our Process , and the data that supports many of the daily 'company comparator' calculations;
• Ticker Technologies Inc. is a leading data and charting provider. It provides data that results in the charts included in the web site, and the data that supports many of the daily 'company comparator' calculations;
• Marketwire (formerly CNN Matthews) is a provider of financial and business news and company press and news releases. It provides company press releases to the web site;
• CNW Group Ltd. (often referred to as Canada Newswire) is a provider of financial and business news and company press and news releases. It provides company press releases to the web site; and,
• CDS Innovations Inc. (CDS) operates, among other things, SEDAR and SEDI. SEDAR is a compiler of Canadian Public Company Documents. SEDI is a compiler of Canadian Public Company Insider Trading data. CDS enables the website to compile its public company document database, and provides daily updated Insider Trading Information to the web site.

Q:How often is the web site updated?

A: Some elements of the web site, including company share price and trading statistics, stock market indices, currency exchange rates, company comparisons, insider trading, RSS based studies and articles, and company press releases are updated daily. Other elements, such as corporate information and the Research & Due Diligence Questionnaire are typically updated quarterly.

Q:What is the Valuation Overview?

A: The Valuation Overview is a comparatively brief discussion paper that reviews the differences between information available to Corporate Acquirers and that available to Investors, along with basic business (or company) valuation principles and concepts. It also compares and contrasts the methodologies commonly used by Corporate Acquirers and Securities Analysts when reaching views on company and stock trading values. It is an informational document that is intended to be of educational and ongoing reference value to members of the StockResearchPortal.com community.

Q:Are there other 'valuation discussion papers' embedded in the web site?

A: Yes, there are four other separate 'Valuation Synopses' that are industry and company specific. These include the Mining Valuation Synopsis found under each Mining Industry Page, an Oil & Gas E&P; Valuation Synopsis, an Oil & Gas Service Valuation Synopsis, and an Oil & Gas Trust Valuation Synopsis. The latter three are found under their respective Industry Pages.

Q:Why does the Economic Perspectives page exist?

A: A central theme of this web site is that intelligent investment begins with an understanding of prevailing and prospective world and country economic conditions, as these things are predictors of what could influence specific industries and companies within those industries. Accordingly, the Economic Perspectives page content should be viewed to be a 10,000 foot observation point from which to consider and assess stock market investment decisions.

Q:What does the Economic Perspectives page enable a Member to do?

A: The Economic Perspectives page sets out lists of screened and linked 'primary' and 'secondary' web sites, screens and links to books and other publications, and to a daily screened RSS feed of topical macro-economic related articles that are thought to be of interest to informed investors.

Q:Is there anything different about the way Economic Perspective Information is presented in StockResearchPortal.com compared to how it is presented in other websites?

A: Yes. First, StockResearchPortal.com rigorously screens the web sites, books, articles, etc. to present what we consider informational resources of quality with timely content. This is an ongoing process, and resources will be added or deleted on an ongoing basis. Second, StockResearchPortal.com is not in competition with, receives no compensation from, and has no other vested interest in the informational resources used on the web site. Most importantly, the Economics Perspectives page provides Members with immediate links to Monthly Economic Reports, country specific data, and articles and other documents in a consistent, 'easy to find', and 'easy to use' manner. We think the result is that the Economic Perspective page represents an opportunity for Members to save significant time when undertaking economic research.

Q:Is StockResearchPortal.com interested in hearing from Members on how the Economic Perspectives pages can be improved to better meet their needs and make their research experience more valuable to them?

A: Absolutely. Member input on how StockResearchPortal.com can better meet its Members needs is not only welcomed, it is encouraged. Any member with a constructive idea or suggestion should forward it by e-mail to .

Q:How are the Industry Research pages structured?

A: Each industry sector covered in the web site (i.e. Base Metals, Gold, Silver, Uranium, Oil & Gas E&P;'s, Oil & Gas Service, and Oil & Gas Income Trusts) has its own industry page.

Q:Why do Industry Research pages exist?

A: A further theme of this website is that intelligent investment requires an understanding of industry structure, dynamics, and economics. Accordingly, each Industry Research page in this web site can be thought of as a 5,000 foot observation point from which to consider and assess stock market investment decisions.

Q:What do the Industry Research pages enable a Member to do?

A: The Industry Research pages set out lists of web sites, books and other publications, and RSS feeds of topical industry related articles that are thought to be of interest to informed investors.

Q:Is there anything different about the way Industry Research information is presented in StockResearchPortal.com compared to how it is presented in other websites?

A: Yes. We know of no other web site that offers focused industry specific research opportunities in a consistently presented, and hence (we think) Member friendly fashion. We think these pages represent an opportunity for Members to save significant time when undertaking Industry Research.

We rigorously screen the web sites, books, articles, etc. to present what we consider are high quality informational resources in a timely content. This is an ongoing process, and resources will be added or deleted on an ongoing basis. StockResearchPortal.com is not in competition with, receives no compensation from, and has no other vested interest in the informational resources used on the web site

Q:Is StockResearchPortal.com interested in hearing from Members on how the Industry Research pages can be improved to better meet their needs and make their research experience more valuable to them?

A: Absolutely. Member input on how StockResearchPortal.com can better meet its Members needs is not only welcomed, it is encouraged. Any member with a constructive idea or suggestion should forward it by e-mail to .

Q:What is the population from which companies for inclusion in the web site are selected?

A: There are approximately 1,750 Mining, Oil & Gas, and Oil & Gas Service companies and Income Trusts traded on the Toronto Stock and Venture Exchanges. StockResearchPortal.com contains data on more than 250 (20%) of these.

Q:What are the reasons for the choice of the 'company selection criteria' (see Our Process ) used to screen companies from the overall population of companies?

A: The reasons are based in both theory and practicality. First, the criteria are comparatively simple and specifically are not meant to suggest that companies not screened (and hence not included in the web site) do not de facto have significant value and price enhancement potential. Second, the simple balance sheet criteria adopted are based on the concept of 'stable balance sheets with funds on hand sufficient to appear to reasonably fund near-term operations'. The market capitalization criteria adopted result in comparatively small companies and comparatively large companies as measured by market capitalization being excluded, resulting in a number of companies included in the web site that represent a reasonably 'manageable number' of companies from the point of view of enabling the regular update of their publicly released data.

Q:Are the selection criteria likely to change from time to time?

A: Yes, this is a possibility, and will be addressed on an ongoing basis.

Q:How often are companies reviewed for inclusion or deletion?

A: Data for all public companies in the Industry Categories covered by the web site is reviewed quarterly (on September 15, December 15, March 15, and June 15), and companies are included or deleted from the website's database if they meet or fail the web site's screening parameters - see Our Process.

Q:How is 'Company Research' structured for each company?

A: First, there are approximately 20 individual elements (or topics) included in the web site for each company. Individual companies and data related thereto can be accessed in a number of ways by use of Main Navigation bar dropdown menus. Individual companies can be are accessed by Industry Segment, by Name, and by Symbol.

Q:How does one go about viewing the 'company comparison statistics' found in the web site?

A: By selecting sequentially from the Main Navigation bar drop-down menus Members can compare companies whose data is embedded in the site, depending on industry sector, from 17 (mining explorers) to 42 (Oil & Gas E&P;'s) daily, quarterly, trailing twelve month and year/year comparators. Companies can be selected for comparison at an industry level (i.e. mining, oil & gas, etc), a commodity specific level (i.e. gold, silver, oily, gassy, etc), in the case of mining by explorers only or producers only, and on a geographic basis. Geographic, or country risk, can be researched by linking through the Economic Perspectives page of this site to the country specific discussions generated by The Economist magazine.

Q:What are the 'high level' advantages related to the Company Research components of this web site as contrasted with other 'for free' or 'Member based' financial information web sites?

A: Many 'high level' advantages' attach to this web site. Some of the more important from a Member's point of view include:

• the fact that the web site is 'industry focused' combined with consistent formatting of data for each company and the company comparison statistics that can be accessed daily all contribute to substantive clarity of research opportunity and very significant time savings for Members;
• the consistent and immediately available moving average share price, volatility, and performance chart for each company, each of which is updated at 4:30 p.m. on each trading day;
• the insider trading activity covering the last fifteen insider trades for each company, which is updated as that information is received from SEDI;
• the share ownership pie charts for each company which show the % of undiluted and fully diluted shareholdings of Directors and Officers;
• a table that shows for each company Inter-Corporate Cross-References for each Director and Officer, thereby enabling Members to readily see publicly disclosed 'other corporate involvements' of each;
• the Research & Due Diligence Questionnaire. We believe this to be unique, and of great potential value to Members;
• the summary table of key financial data, operating data and reserves for each company, consistently organized;
• analyst reports for each company, which we expect to become more inclusive over time; and,
• the fact that public documents are resident in the web site and immediately accessible to Members, as contrasted to Members having to access them through sites such as SEDAR.

Q:Is StockResearchPortal.com interested in hearing from Members on how its company selection process and individual company 'research pages' can be improved to better meet their needs and make their research experience more valuable to them?

A: Absolutely. Member input on how StockResearchPortal.com can better meet its Members needs is not only welcomed, it is encouraged. Any member with a constructive idea or suggestion should forward it by e-mail to .

Q:Is the RDDQ proprietary?

A: Yes. Based on advice from a leading Canadian Patent Attorney patent protection has been applied for covering all the important concepts incorporated in the RDDQ.

Q:What are the advantages to a Member of being able to accessing the RDDQ?

A: There are many important advantages:

• Members should find repeated use of the RDDQ conceptually informative and broadly helpful to them when assessing any public company investment they have or plan to make
• Members will quickly learn what companies do and do not disclose by way of responses to key word searches for approximately (depending on the Industry in which the Company operates) 200 questions organized topically;
• responses to questions are linked to the document where they are found, thereby enabling Members to read the corporate document in context,
• questions to which there is no key words response are reprinted in an 'unanswered questionnaire' to facilitate the Member making further direct enquiries of Company management. We believe knowledge of what is not disclosed is every bit as valuable to investors as knowledge of what is disclosed; and,
• Member's have an opportunity to enter their own Key Words and independently search each Company's Public Documents.

Q:Could the RDDQ potentially impact Corporate Governance?

A: While far from certain, we think this is possible. The RDDQ is programmed to generate responses from each Company's Public Documents based on key word searches. The questions embedded in the Questionnaire are believed to be ones a knowledgeable Investor ought to ask when making investment decisions. To the extent questions asked are not responded to by the Key Word searches, it is possible that management of companies whose data is embedded in the website may amplify their Management’s Discussion & Analysis Documents to include answers to questions in the Questionnaire that otherwise would go unanswered.

Q:Is StockResearchPortal.com interested in hearing from Members on how the RDDQ can be improved to better meet their needs and make their research experience more valuable to them?

A: Absolutely. Member input on how StockResearchPortal.com can better meet its Members needs is not only welcomed, it is encouraged. Any member with a constructive idea or suggestion should forward it by e-mail to .