-->By J.P. Schumacher
Top-Gold Fund, Switzerland
Monday, October 5, 2005

The management and staff of Top-Gold mourn the tragic death of their chairman, Ferdinand Lips. He peacefully passed away last Thursday night from complications
after routine back surgery he had three weeks ago following his accident in the Swiss mountains this summer.

Ferdinand Lips was born in 1931 in Zurich and had more than 50 years of experience in banking and finance. Until 1987 he was a managing director of Rothschild Bank AG in Zurich and until 1998 CEO of Bank Lips AG in Zurich. In 1993 he was No. 2 mutual fund manger performer worldwide with his in-house Precious Metals Fund, which gained 121 percent for the year.

In December 2000 Lips was a founding member of Lion Capital Group AG in Zurich and he was serving on the Board of Directors and as a senior adviser.

He had more than 30 years of experience in the gold mining industry. In 1994 he participated in the takeover battle for the Rand Mines Group and the"Randgold Revolution" that changed the face of South Africa's gold mining industry.

Lips served as non-executive director in companies such as Randgold & Exploration Ltd. and Durban Roodeport Deep Ltd. in Johannesburg and until 2004 as a member of the board of Randgold Resources Ltd, Jersey, Channel Islands. He was serving on the board of Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources Ltd., Johannesburg, a junior gold and uranium company, and as a member of the Advisory Board of J-Pacific Gold Mines Ltd., Vancouver, and Desert Sun Mining Corp., Toronto. In May 2005 Lips became a member of the board of Western Areas Ltd., Johannesburg.

Lips managed the Top-Gold Fund since inception in February 2003 and was its chairman.

Lips wrote several articles and books on investments and gold, including"Gold Wars", released in the United States in 2002 and an expanded German
translation entitled"Die Gold-Verschwörung" published in November 2003 (already in its fifth edition).

He was a founding member of the Swiss Association of Security Analysts and a trustee of the Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary Education (FAME) in New York.

He lectured widely lectured on monetary history and markets.

My relationship with Ferdinand goes back 25 years. It was his first book that influenced me as a young man in 1981 to seek a career in the financial markets, the center of the economy. It was in 1990 when I first met him through an introduction by the famous cycle analyst, Ian Notley. Since then our relationship grew steadily and we became partners at Lion Capital Group managing the Top-Gold Fund. Ferdi became my mentor and close friend.

I remember the day back in the summer of 2000 when we discussed the coming bull market in gold at his favorite table at the Restaurant Kronenhalle. I was
running my own brokerage business at that time and, when Ferdi asked me to join him as the CEO of Lion Capital, I accepted on the spot.

During the first two years we ran into serious difficulties with our other partners. But Ferdi never left me and was determined to complete the mission we
were on. We started Top-Gold in February 2003 with 1 million Swiss francs out of Ferdi's own pocket. Today Top-Gold has passed the 80 million Swiss franc mark and has become one of the top-performing precious metals funds globally.

Ferdi's mission was to teach the world about"sound money" -- the economic basis for a peaceful, stable world. This could be achieved only by a return to the
gold standard. He became known as the pope of gold." His book"Gold Wars" was the weapon. It was translated into German and the Japanese edition is about to be released. Translations into French, Russian, and Arabic are planned.

Apart from his professional accomplishments and his vast knowledge of the history gold and its monetary role, I will remember Ferdi as a very close friend and gentleman by all standards. He was also the loving father of two daughters and grandfather of two girls who also made him very proud. He often told me that
keeping the family together was the most important thing in life. Because family meant so much to him, he was also a big supporter of the Pestalozzi children's
village foundation in Switzerland.

Ferdi loved life. He was fond of the arts and he loved good food and cigars and was a connoisseur of French wine.

In recent years we travelled the world together. Our tips led us to Japan, Canada, South Africa, and the Middle East. I keep a lot of good memories; we had
lots of fun. On those tips Ferdi showed great interest in foreign cultures and their traditions. He had great respect for the Japanese. It does not surprise me that he built a traditional Japanese bath in his retreat in the village of Soazza in the Swiss mountains -- a place he recently renovated with great attention to details with the help of the Swiss department of conservation of monuments and historic buildings. It was to have become his retreat and the site of his studies.

He also built up a dialogue with the Islamic world, speaking at the Arab Open University in Bahrain and the Gulf Research Center.

We had a conversation with a mullah visiting a mosque in Bahrain. We were discussing the role of gold in the Christian and Islamic world and realized that the two religions share an interest in that topic. This visit strengthened his belief that the world can return to peace only under a sound monetary system -- the gold standard. Ferdi was determined to teach the world about the benefits of it.

When his book was published in German, for Christmas he sent a letter and a copy of his book to all members of the Swiss parliament, members of the boards of the
Swiss and European central banks, and other national economic leaders.

I am proud of being Ferdi's partner over the last five years. Nobody will be able to replace Ferdi, but I will do everything possible to finish his mission -- with the help of his daughter, Barbara, who is a marketing expert. With her Ferdi developed the concept of a monetary institute -- an organization that teaches the world about the history of gold, the economic and social benefits of the gold standard, and the renewal of the gold mining industry. Its students will be able to:

* Take courses through a network of universities.

* Have access to broad information on gold, silver, and currencies.

* Have access to a circle of experts and exchange information with them.

* Attend seminars with experts and leaders of the gold and silver mining industry

Barbara and I will work hard over the next couple of months on founding the Ferdinand Lips Monetary Institute and finish the mission Ferdi began five
years ago. We will keep you informed about our progress, and your help and comment for its success are highly appreciated.

In his last years Ferdi and I had several philosophical conversations, including conversations about what it takes lo live a fulfilled life. His view was that one should leave the stage better than it was when one entered it. He meant that everyone should make a contribution that brings civilization a step closer to a peaceful, stable world. Mission accomplished on all fronts, Ferdi.

Finally, I would like to share with you what he thought about making serious money in the current bull cycle of gold. It is an e-mail he sent to a friend and
copied to me:

"Dear -----:

Regarding the last paragraph of your mail, I wanted to say the following.

Yes, I would like to make serious money in this cycle. That is one of the reasons why I am continuing to work. I have waited a very long time for this to
happen. In the last cycle I could not make much money, for several reasons, though I bought gold very early. I bought gold for the first time in February 1968 at $35 and sold in April at $43 after the gold pool collapsed on March 17, 1968, which incidentally is my birthday.

On October 1, 1968, I joined Rothschild Bank in Zurich. We were successful right from the beginning insofar as we sold all common stocks before the crash
in 1969/70. When the Dow fell from 1,000 to 630 we were 100 percent in cash, which then yielded 10 percent in the time short-term.

I then started to buy gold and gold mines, including Durban Deep under a dollar. They went above $50. That is when I went to South Africa for the first time in
1974. I met all the top people of AngloGold and Gold Fields.

But I did not benefit as much as I could have because I had no money. I had a family and was young. The biggest problem was my general manager, who was a
Keynesian and did not believe in gold. He yelled at me when I mentioned gold for the first time. So I had a terrible problem at the bank as he and the other
member of the management team (a yes man) were completely against me.

But I was highly successful in building a clientele of about 750 million Swiss francs at the time (that would be three times as much today), and we finally
decided that I would run a bank within the bank. This is at least what Baron Elie de Rothschild said. I built this clientele mostly in Germany, Austria, and
Italy and without the help of the Rothschild family. Some of them did not travel in Germany or even fly over Germany. You can imagine that this was not an ideal situation. So I concentrated on socializing with my aristocratic clients rather than on making money.

Then in June 1975 my first wife, mother of my daughters, died at the age of 40. After this my interest in making money in the stock markets almost died too.

In 1981 I wrote my first book. It became a best seller among professional books and was translated into Spanish, also a best seller. I sold more books than the famous management consultant Peter Drucker.

But destiny treated me very well because after I sold my bank (the 10 years I had the bank were my 10 most difficult) I could continue a new career in the gold mining industry.

My start in gold mining came because Derek Strauss of Strauss, Turnbull (afterward Société Générale), a Jewish banking family with whom I am now working in the third generation, introduced me to Adam Fleming of Robert Fleming in London. Adam and I became friends and he introduced me to the Kebbles. Adam later became chairman of Harmony Gold, owning 5 percent of the stock. I subsequently helped the Kebble family to get the control of Rand Mines Group (the oldest mining group of South Africa) on the basis of which they built their sizeable holdings during the most difficult times for the industry. They did it all practically from scratch.

Now to my philosophy. I love money because it allows me to lead a life with culture and comfort with my daughters and grandchildren. I love art, books,
beautiful gardens, and houses, and should I ever make a fortune, small or big, in the next five years, it is only because it will help me accomplish one or two
projects that I feel will make me and others happy and give me the confidence that I have led a good life that was worth it.

Therefore if we, you, and J.P., and others can help each other to be successful and happy with what we are doing, then we can say we were successful and had a
good life that was worth the effort.

Best wishes and kindest regards,

Ferdi

P.S. You notice that I did not mention women. Well, that was probably the weakest part of my life."

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J.P. Schumacher is manager of the Top-Gold Fund in Switzerland and was Ferdinand Lips' friend and partner.
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