foreshadowing the bank feasibility study

As the date for release of the long-awaited Bank Feasibility Study draws nearer, it is interesting to speculate on its implications for the share price.

At its current market cap, one can only assume the market is cynical about the resource size and potential profitability of GIP's Egyptian venture.

Evidence that this is so may be seen in the fact that despite the company announcing offtake agreements for each of the three major resource materials it intends to mine - feldspar (used in high quality ceramics), tin and tantalum - that each amount to multiples of its current market cap, the SP languishes around .075 cents. Clearly the market is not prepared to take the story on good faith. Quite rightly, it is exhibiting its customary hard-nosed attitude and demanding "show me the money!" and of course that is precisely what a BFS is designed to do.

I have been over the company's announcements many times and - unless some devil lies buried in the detail - the only downside risk I can see lies in the possibility of a further delay in the BFS. That, I think, would erode all investor confidence and, in the light of previous delays, is something I am sure management is determined to avoid.

Assuming the BFS is presented as promised however, I believe it can only be positive for the SP, as it will lend external, objective credibility to the company's claims about the nature of the feldspar, tin and tantalum resources it controls.

To hear GIP's almost extraordinary claims reinforced by the dispassionate number-crunchers in a feasibility study should remove the last remaining cloud over the stock; therefore I would be surprised if GIP did not receive a significant re-rating by the market upon BFS release - providing there are no unexpected negatives.

A proper basis for comparison with stocks like SGW will then be available. With GIP's projected production costs estimated to be a fraction of its competitors and with highly profitable forward deals for each of its resources already on the table in outline form, I'm hoping the market will realize the company has made the transition from "wannabe" to "serious contender."

I'm holding for that day. I would emphasize to prospective investors though that GIP is very much at the spec end of the market and is not a stock for those with low risk appetite. Its potential rewards, however, are commensurate with that risk in my view.

I would be interested in others' opinions on the market's likely reaction to the BFS, assuming it bears out the company's claims to date.

TIA,

Gupper