gThumb XML -- will they work in GIMP 2.8?

I recall reading somewhere on the Net that GIMP 2.8.x can import metadata from .xml files. I have quite a few such from running gThumb on my picture folders, and was wondering if the .xml files generated in gThumb could be used for importing metadata into GIMP .xcf files, etc.

So, can they? I'm wary to try it without a bit of advice ahead of time.

Carver