Below is a comment supplied by Rick Visagie, Mining Analyst for Octagon Capital.

Analysis

• According to the World Bank, China has overtaken the U.S. in manufacturing output. As an industrial giant,

China needs to be taken seriously as an international economic force and a strategic and military power,

according to a senior researcher in the Asian Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

• China has been the world’s leading producer of steel, copper, lead, zinc, aluminium, cement, and coal for several

years.

• As a consumer, China surpassed Japan as the globe’s second-largest importer of petroleum in 2005, as well as

the largest consumer of the metals it produces.

• In 2006, China surpassed Japan as the world’s No. 2 auto market, with total sales of 7.2 million vehicles and

production of 7.3 million; while in 2007, the country also became the world’s top producer of merchant ships.

• The emergence of China as the biggest player in the commodities market more than offsets the current decline

in consumption in the U.S. We expect China to maintain its double-digit growth in base metals demand. This in

turn bodes well for continued high base metal prices.