In answer to your questions @ryan0 I have posted extensively in...

In answer to your questions @ryan0 I have posted extensively in the past about how I like Lion's investment philosophy and over the years I have based my own speculation philosophy loosely around their approach. In my own experience when you take on political risk in particular, you have to accept that things aren't always going to work out. A few points in response to your post.

1. Up until my involvement with Lion Ver 2. I had never put money into Indonesia (the opportunity had actually never presented). Would I do it again based on recent experience, probably not. I think Lion underestimated just how difficult it is to do business in Indonesia and would have come away with a similar view. This was their primary investment (One Asia) for the current cycle and I would call it a fail even though they made some money (its pretty handy when you can fail at something and still preserve your original capital). Given the quality of the asset they were attempting to gain exposure to, I fully understand why they had a go at it.

2. As retail investors when you and I put money into something we can see isn't working, we simply hit the sell button and get out. For an investment company (and I have worked for a large private investment company) things are very different. You can only sell when the opportunity arises (not when you want to but when you can). You actually have very little say in when this is (unless you are a significant shareholder). Would Lion liked to have seen Nusantarra's Awak Mas project developed and been able to participate in the upside? For sure (I think so). The company's inability to raise finance made that almost impossible. No doubt this also factored into their thinking with Pani. There was no use taking this all the way if they were going to struggle to be able to raise their share of the capital costs. In retrospect my gut feeling is banks are very uneasy with minority JV interests when it comes to lending in politically risky jurisdictions (something worth remembering in future). J Resources recently sold their project and this presented Lion with an opportunity to do the same.

3. These guys have both skin in the game and much better insight than you and I into what's actually going on. We are on a needs to know basis where as these guys have feet on the ground and access to better information. This is what I have always liked. They can see what I can't. If they felt selling Pani at this juncture was the right move, as difficult as it is for me to accept that decision (based on limited information), in all probability it was the right move. I am now looking forward to some new opportunities (investment ideas).

4. Given I would like to see Lion continue as a going concern, I am a big fan of a share buy back plan of some description in the near future. Making money in financial markets is very often about a transfer of wealth from the impatient to the patient. Provided both the buyer and the seller are fully aware of what the present circumstances are, on an ethical basis I have absolutely no problem with Lion buying shares that are worth $0.70 for $0.50 if the opportunity presents. To my way of thinking its a no brainer but that's just me.

5. Finally, when you look at Lions performance you can't just focus on a period where things haven't worked out. You have to look at the entire picture, which to me remains impressive. I'm willing to bet they will get things back on track and like all of us have hopefully learned some valuable lessons from recent experience.

My 2 cents for what it is worth Ryan0. I don't entirely disagree with your sentiment as I too am disappointed with the outcome. However, I have been doing this long enough to know that with speculation in junior mining you have to learn to take the good with the bad and not throw the baby out with the bath water. A lot easier said than done!