Good question, Nick. The assumption is that this company will be profitable, and probably quite profitable, once presales and sales commence. Future earnings, cash flows, etc. will hopefully lead market participants to conclude that the company is worth more than it's stated book value. Many successful (all?) companies trade at a premium to book value. Omagine is currently trading at a premium to current book value. If/when Omagine shows acccelerating sales and earnings growth, which should be the case, the argument for a higher premium grows stronger.

Keep in mind, a big cost factor to the "widgets" to be sold is the land. However, Omagine's cost of the land is extremely low relative to it's market value. So there should be quite a bit of margin in the sales price ... presumably a competitive advantage to other, similar projects in the region.

Hope this helps.