TWPG Thomas Weisel Prtns Grp (MM)

Thomas Weisel Partners (NASDAQ: TWPG) (TSX: TWP), a global growth-focused investment bank, will host its inaugural Natural Resources Conference on Monday, December 1 at the New York Palace Hotel in New York. Institutional investors and company management will gather for this one-day conference, which will focus on opportunities and challenges in the energy and mining sectors for 2009 and beyond. Nearly 40 companies from around the globe, representing base metals, energy equipment and services, gold & precious metals, international oil & gas, oil & gas exploration and production and uranium, will be showcased at the conference.

"We remain committed to focused coverage in the natural resources sector. The energy and metals & mining sectors have certainly not escaped the downturn in the overall market we have seen this year. The S&P Energy sub-index has fallen by 36% and the metals & mining sub-index is down 66%, compared with the S&P 500 down 42%. However, the Gold sub-index has performed somewhat better than base metals, down 35%. We believe that various factors including a gradual economic recovery and improvement in global demand will drive a rebound in the natural resources sector over the next year," said Keith Gay, Head of TWP's Research Group.

The conference will be led by Thomas Weisel Partners ten senior natural resource research analysts: Dana Benner, CFA, energy equipment & services; David Dudlyke, oil & gas exploration and production; Heather Douglas, CFA, gold; Thomas Martin, oil & gas exploration and production; Andrew Mikitchook, CFA, base & precious metals; Kurt Molnar, oil & gas exploration and production; Matthew O'Keefe, base & precious metals; Michael Scialla, oil & gas exploration and production; Simon Tonkin, base & precious metals; Alistair Toward, CFA, oil & gas exploration and production. Analysts will offer insight into the major trends impacting their respective sectors.

A full list of company participants follows:

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.
Aquiline Resources Inc.
ARC Energy Trust
Bankers Petroleum Ltd.
Bannerman Resources Limited
Birchcliff Energy Ltd.
Calfrac Well Services Ltd.
Capstone Mining Corp.
Cathedral Energy Services Income Trust
Celtic Exploration Ltd.
CIC Energy Corp.
Coastal Energy Limited
Daylight Resources Trust
Enerflex Systems Income Fund
Ensign Energy Services Ltd.
Extract Resources Limited
Flint Energy Services Ltd.
Galleon Energy Ltd.
Gran Tierra Energy
Horizon North Logistics Inc.
IAMGOLD Corporation
Kinross Gold Corporation
Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp
Nautilus Minerals Inc.
Osisko Exploration Ltd.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation
Paramount Resources, Ltd.
Quadra Mining Ltd.
Quicksilver Resources Inc
Savanna Energy Services Corp.
ShawCor Ltd.
Southwestern Energy Company
St. Mary Land & Exploration Company
Trican Well Service Ltd.
Trilogy Energy Trust
Ultra Petroleum Corp.
Venoco, Inc.

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. is an investment bank, founded in 1998, focused principally on the growth sectors of the economy. Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. generates revenues from three principal sources: investment banking, brokerage and asset management. The investment banking group is comprised of two disciplines: corporate finance and strategic advisory. The brokerage group provides equity and convertible debt securities sales and trading services to institutional investors, and offers brokerage, advisory and cash management services to high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients. The asset management group consists of: private equity, public equity and distribution management. Thomas Weisel Partners is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Baltimore, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Portland, Silicon Valley, Toronto, London, Mumbai and Zurich. For more information, please visit www.tweisel.com.