Client-Liberty Metals and Mining, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual.
Project-In person and over the phone country briefings (audience of ~3-4). Bart and Reva will be conducting their briefings over the phone. Everyone else will be presenting in person so please dress in business attire.
Deliverable-
We have been asked by Liberty Metals and Mining Holdings, LLC to provide executive briefings for the countries of Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Botswana, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania and Zambia. These are all emerging markets for Liberty, which does not have any investments in these countries at present. The subject of the briefings will be the business risk environment for the abovementioned countries, providing an assessment of the political, economic (to include regulatory), and security environment in the countries.

Note that the client will not have anyone on the ground involved in the actual mining operations themselves. They do not plan to pursue any mining projects on their own, but would rather be investing in current operations or would engage in a joint venture but would be the entity providing the financing. The only people they would have on the ground would be those in a Board of Directors or representative role.

Specifically, we should address the following questions posed by Liberty Metals and Mining Holdings, LLC for each of the countries with a focus of how each question may relate the mining sector:

·  Does the country have a stable legal system and rule of law?

·  Is there a tradition of government secession and stable transition? If so, when will the next significant elections take place? If not, are revolutions and coups common?

·  What is the political and economic relationship like between the United States and each country?

·  Is corruption common? Is it possible to conduct business in the country without violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other regulations?

·  In regards to the regulatory environment, are the same regulations in place and enforced for foreign businesses as they are for domestic enterprises?

·  Are environmental regulations in place and are such regulations properly enforced?

·  Is there a tradition of capitalism and respect for private property or are nationalizations and seizures of natural resources or foreign companies operating in the mining sector common?

·  What are the major security threats for foreign business travelers and country-based nationals working in each country, to include threats posed by terrorism, crime, political stability and war and insurgency?

o  Is there a presence of revolutionary or secessionist groups? If so, how much of a risk do they pose to the government and foreign businesses and their employees operating in the country?

·  In regards to the abovementioned questions, are any major shifts in the present conditions expected within the next ten years?

·  How difficult is it for a U.S. company to get their money in and out of the country after investing in a country's bank or mining operations. For example, are there repatriation limits on removing earnings? Is there onerous tax/regulation on earnings, such as saying that all ore sales are made by the government, and then the government pays the company in local currency (which tends to be worthless internationally). The client does not expect us to be taxation or financial consultants, but is just interested in the major or common regulations in this regard that we are aware of.

Each country briefing will last no more than thirty minutes, which accounts for at least ten minutes of a Question and Answer period for each country, although not every country may take that long. Analysts should prepare notes to answer each of the questions above. No Power Point presentations are needed.