woeful wednesday, page-8

Can you believe the stupidity of this quote from the guy running the largest mining company in the world. Says this to the world late yesterday. Klopper for the Chopper.

BHP plans to take its offer to Rio shareholders after obtaining regulatory approval, probably by year's end, Kloppers said. BHP is betting Rio shareholders will accept the proposal because BHP has a 50 percent profit margin, compared with Rio's 33 percent, and can better withstand a slowdown because Rio has more debt after its $38.1 billion acquisition of Alcan Inc. in 2007.

``If prices collapse, theoretically when Rio has got no margins left, I've still got a 17 percent margin,'' said Kloppers. ``Rio is financially quite highly leveraged. You've got to pay your earnings toward your debt repayment, which means the volatility of your earnings increases. In a down cycle, you are more leveraged.''