rio tinto iron ore sales team arrestd in china, page-85

Not more than a little over four weeks ago, RIO was performing in a way that most of us (including myself) thought well neigh impossible. The SP had actually reached $78 from a low of $30. It seemed possible that it might even hit 90 or more before years end. And now, we are where we are...

Some of RIO's decisions over the past year suggests that management is recalcitrant if not completely incompetent. But we mustn't lose sight of the fact that it was the majority of SHAREHOLDERS who wanted more from BHP during the mooted takeover and the majority of SHAREHOLDERS who where in disagreement with Chinalco's occupation of a chair in the boardroom. As pertains to the latter matter, as a group, in my opinion, we were vociferous and rather xenophobic in our objection. I know this won't sit well with the most of the posters on this board, but we have a history of this in Australia. After all, it was only a little over a 30 years ago that the bulletin magazine carried as its masthead, "Australia For The White Man". It's a big ask for the residue of that mindset to be fully dissapated in three decades. Today, in my opinion, we still pay the price...