By Richard Mills
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.

Burkina is 274,000 km² with a population of plus 15 million it’s people belong to one of two major West African cultural groups - the Voltaic and the Mande.

Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta (The country owes its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon). It was renamed Burkina Faso in August 1984 - meaning "the land of upright people" in Mòoré and Dioula, the two major native languages of the country. Figuratively Burkina may be translated as "men of integrity" from the Mòoré language and "Faso" means "father's house" in Dioula.

After gaining independence from France in 1960 the country is now a semi-presidential republic. The parliament consists of one chamber known as the National Assembly; it has 111 seats with members elected to serve five year terms. There is a constitutional chamber with ten members and an economic and social council whose roles are purely consultative. Burkina Faso is divided into thirteen regions, forty-five provinces, and 301 departments.

Burkina Faso's capital is Ouagadougou. It is a member of the African Union, Community of Sahel-Saharan States, La Francophonie, Organization of the Islamic Conference and Economic Community of West African States.

Burkina Faso is made up of two major types of terrane. The larger part of the country is covered by a peneplain (land worn down by erosion almost to a level plain - a nearly flat land surface) which forms a gently undulating landscape with a few isolated hills.

The southwest of the country is a sandstone massif, where the highest peak, Ténakourou, is 749 meters tall. The average altitude of Burkina Faso is 400 meters - the difference between the highest and lowest terrain is only 600 meters.

Burkina Faso has a tropical climate with two seasons – wet and dry. During the rainy season the country receives 600 to 900 millimeters of rainfall, the rainy season lasts four or five months, starting in May/June and it rains, off and on, till September. In the dry season, the harmattan – a hot dry wind coming from the Sahara desert – blows.

Burkina Faso's natural resources include manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice, salt and gold, there are currently operating copper, iron, manganese and Gold mines in the country.

Burkina Facts:
• The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè.

• Agriculture represents 32% of its gross domestic product

• A large part of the economic activity of the country is funded by international aid

• Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world - per capita gross domestic product (GDP) = $440

• More than 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture

• Drought, poor soil, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a low literacy rate, and an economy vulnerable to external shocks are all longstanding and ongoing problems

• Many Burkinabe migrate to neighboring countries for work sending substantial amounts of money back home - these remittances provide a contribution to the economy's balance of payments that is second only to Cotton as a source of foreign exchange earnings

• The currency of Burkina Faso is the CFA franc

• Burkina Faso is one of the few West African countries that's not predominantly Muslim

• A railway connects Burkina with the port of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 1,150 kilometers (712 mi.) away

• Primary roads between main towns in Burkina Faso are paved

• Phones and Internet service providers are relatively reliable, but the cost of utilities is very high

Burkina is attempting to improve its economy by:

• developing its mineral resources

• Improving its infrastructure

• Making its agricultural and livestock sectors more productive and competitive

• Stabilizing the supplies and prices of food grains

• Implementing a fairly widespread privatization program

• Adhering to strict policy rules set out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB)
Economic growth has averaged around 6% per year for the last 15 years.

Burkina Faso also has a new investment code that is helping to promote foreign investment. Reforms include:
• The adoption of a labor code in May 2008

• Improving the process to transfer property

• The elimination of commune authorization requirements

• The creation of a one-stop shop to facilitate construction permits

• A decrease of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 30%

• A decrease on dividend taxes from 15% to 12%

• Implementing major changes to the tax system

• Creating a number of ‘mining friendly’ programs with the specific aim of attracting new mining and development companies

• Announcing their intention to set up a ‘mining development fund’ with Groupement des Professionnels Miniers (GPMB) behind the move, specific details have yet to be released

• Building a higher education institute for mining engineers and other executives
“Gold production in Burkina Faso more than doubled from 2008 to 2009. The entire mining sector in the country is booming. The strongest increase in any sector during 2009 has been in Gold production. Thanks to a strongly growing price of precious metals on the world market during recent years the mining and extractive industries are experiencing a real boom in Burkina Faso. The number of permits and authorizations issued rose from 537 in 2008 to 599 in 2009, an increase of 11.6 percent. The industrial production of gold has risen from about 5,000 kg in 2008 to 11,642 kg in 2009, representing more than a doubling of production. These development should be helping to strengthen the position of our country as a mining country.” Condensed from Prime Minister Tertius Zongo’s state-of-the-nation speech to the Ouagadougou parliament.

Burkina Faso is now at the start of a mining boom. Looking to take advantage of the countries abundant natural resources, the number of ‘mining friendly’ programs the country has to offer and hoping to benefit by being a “first mover” a number of mining and exploration companies have decided to develop assets in Burkina Faso. One of them is…

Riverstone Resources TSX.V – RVS
Share Structure
Total Institutional & Corporate Ownership: 20,680,000 = 22.8%
Total Insider Ownership; 4,366,000 = 4.8%
Retail Ownership: 65,183,190 = 72.4%
Outstanding shares: 90,229,190
Warrants: 24,272,876
Options: 7,400,000
Fully Diluted: 121,902,000
Market Capitalization @ .50 per share: $45,100,066
Cash: US$ 8,500,00.00
Debt: nil

Management
Michael D. McInnis, P.Eng, Director, President & CEO. Over 35 years of experience in exploration and management, track record with high quality mineral projects

James Robertson, P.Eng, Director. Over 35 years of experience, past Director of Primary Metals before takeover by Sojitz Corp.
Alvin Jackson, P.Geo, Director. International experience, past President and COO of EuroZinc Mining

Rick Bailes, P.Eng, Director. Over 30 years in mining, past President and CEO of Canadian GoldHunter

Gregory Isenor, P.Geo, Director. Past CEO of Jilbey Gold before its takeover by High River Gold

Paul G. Anderson, P. Geo, Vice President Exploration. International experience, previously in Burkina Faso with Channel

Resources in 1990’s
Riverstone Resources Inc. has focused its exploration activities on West Africa because its elephant country for gold exploration - hosting world-class gold deposits in Ghana, Mali and Guinea. In addition, West Africa has had the fastest growth in gold production in the world over the past five years.

The Company has chosen to concentrate its efforts in Burkina Faso because the belts of favorable rock that host all of the major gold deposits in Ghana continue into Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso has undergone less than 10 years of modern exploration and offers the chance to build a property portfolio in an area that has been severely under-explored. Riverstone management believes there are opportunities for further major discoveries in the country.

Projects
Since 2003 Riverstone has amassed a total of 13 exploration permits in 6 regions with its current land package covering some 2,300 square kilometers.

1. Karma - Five contiguous permits with four gold deposits to date: Rambo, Kao and Goulagou I & II. The Company has completed an initial independent NI43-101 resource estimate at Karma with an indicated resource of 820,500 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 320,300 ounces of gold. The resource is contained within 4 deposits all within 7 km of each other and drilling has been limited to a 100 meters in depth. The Company is currently focused on expanding the gold resource contained within the Karma Project.

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