t/over rio, page-14

Not sure RIO would lodge a take-over...

For starters, you might find BHP suddenly stepping in to form a blocking position.

Obviously it is difficult to determine what the minister's eventual decision might be, but on surface value, I find it hard to see on what grounds RIO could argue that it would be in the "public interest" for them to keep the permit...especially after such a long period of inactivity.

As I understand it, this is the only recourse available to RIO in arguing for the minister to recind CAZ's permit, if so, it would appear their case is very weak...as CAZ have stated, they have done more on the permit in 2 months than RIO has done over it's entire life.

The only real chance RIO has, as I see it, would be for them to put pressure on the powers-that-be at a government level to award in their favour...I suggest however, they might wish to be very very careful in this regard.

All in all, it seems pretty straight forward to me. Due to the obvious lack of importance RIO placed in the permit, at worst, they "forgot" to renew the permit...at best, they simply continued to apply the same level of neglect that they have in the past.

Not a very convincing position which ever way you look at it?

Important to remember...there will be many people close to the legal action here who would be well aware of the strength of each case...I wonder if any were buying today?

Cheers!