Topic: How To Invest

Pat, Would you have an opinion on Gippsland Resources, traded on the Australian stock exchange? It has a tantalum deposit in Egypt. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Gippsland Resources, $0.007, symbol GIP on the Australian exchange (Shares outstanding: 975.2 million; Market cap: $6.8 million Australian, www.gippslandltd.com), is focused on developing its 50%-owned Abu Dabbab-Nuweibi and Nuweibi tantalum/tin projects in Egypt. The Egyptian government owns the other 50%. Rust-resistant tantalum is used to make light-bulb filaments, electrolytic capacitors (which are used in electrical circuits), lightning arrestors (which protect electrical equipment from high voltage caused by lightning), nuclear reactor parts and some surgical instruments. Tantalum prices have moved up over the last few years, from $38 U.S. a pound in December 2009 to a high of $150 U.S. earlier this year. Prices have now levelled off at about $110 U.S. Higher electronic device sales are part of the reason for the price rise. But most of it results from increased U.S. government pressure on manufacturers to identify their tantalum sources. That’s because 35% of the global tantalum supply is believed to come from illegal, or “conflict,” mines in the Democratic Republic of…