what next, page-25

MONGREL, Agree, a lot of naive, irrational, narcissistic and biased reasoning on here. Much like the emotive and argumentative "Industrial Psychologist" who carries a "wannabe" syndrome - Don't you think?. All just in my opinion though. That aside, while I do not disagree with some of the points raised above, you also stated:

"A tonne of iron in the ground is worth about $0.50. Its mined and exported royalty is worth about $5.50 per tonne. How is Australia not reaping a benefit?"

For sure Australia is reaping a benefit. No one ever disputed that. The problem is that Australia is not reaping the benefits it should've/could've reaped had it not been for the selfserving actions of entities like BHP and RIO. I can explain this but seeing that you've raised the issue, I think it's best to let you first explain your reasoning for suggesting that Australia (from an I/O revenue perspective) is no worse off today if compared to the period immediately before the I/O price dropped from $130p/tonne (6 months ago) to it current price level. - Always mindful of course that the glut in the I/O market is a direct consequence of flooding the market with low cost ore at a time when demand, at best, stagnated, if not depleted.

Cheers.