announcement out, page-3

re: announcement out - attached This is the announcement:

"18 July 2005

ASX––LSE Announcementt Mediia Rellease

ENVIIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Abu Dabbab Environmental Impact Assessment Completed to World Bank and Egyptian Guidelines

Gippsland Limited is pleased to announce the submittal of the Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") for the Company's 40Mt Egyptian Abu Dabbab tantalum project. The EIA was undertaken by the Egyptian environment Group Environics in association with the German company Dorsch Consult. The international environmental engineering group Knight Piésold also contributed to the EIA.

The structure and content of the EIA, undertaken over a period of some 16 months, was completed in accordance with Egyptian Environment laws and involved various stakeholder meetings, as well as a pubic consultation meeting held in the ancient Red Sea port city of Quseir. The final EIA report took into account comments and recommendations provided in these meetings by various Egyptian authorities, NGOs, academics and other local, regional and national stakeholders associated with the Abu Dabbab project.
Additionally, the EIA was prepared to comply with the World Bank Group guidelines which complimented those provided by Egyptian legislation.

The EIA process was conducted in parallel and interactively with project design. As a result, potential negative environmental effects have been mitigated, through appropriate design and environmental management, to acceptable levels by international standards. Commitments to enhance the numerous social benefits of the project have been outlined in the EIA, as well as to further the stakeholder engagement process throughout project development.

The EIA document was presented to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency ("EEAA") on 14 July 2005. As allowed by Egyptian legislation, the EEAA is provided with a 60-day period to review the EIA and to respond with questions and comments relating to the document. Discussions with various Egyptian authorities indicate a high level of support and acceptance of the EIA the completion of which is a major milestone for the project.

The EEAA's approval process will take place in parallel with other tasks associated with project finance and the overall implementation of the project all of which will intensity during the coming months."


I figure your spot on with your timeframes there Salty. Lots of nice words about things being done in parallel but when all is said and done the Egyptian government is entitled to a 60 day review period. Does anyone believe they will take less than this before accepting the report? I sure don't, and that means that the project finance will not be announced until after this time.

Looks like Jack gets another fail in the credibility stakes.

Cheers

Badfish