xstrata poised to strike a deal with nkp , page-26

".....realistically Xstrata could buy the WHOLE show for somewhere around...."

Xstrata now have to satiate shareholders with new pipelines of growth given that these Australian projects would have been uppermost in their expansion plans.

One wonders if this was perhaps a part of what the recent NKP/Xstrata chat was about.

The only NEW questions one might pose to oneself on this bad news for the Aussie mining industry is

1) Will this project now be pushed into VERY fast track mode.

2) would Xstrata contemplate fast tracking Tubatse as well as the smelter plans that were mooted much earlier in the piece.

The clue to 2) if nothing is anncd in the near future might be Xstrata coughing up the 10M owed pronto so NKP can get on with the main Tubatse BFS toot sweet.

But then some are saying this legislation wont make it past the Senate anyway so these Aussie projects may just be seen as leverage to enable such a rejection by the senate and if/when the new taxes are cancelled these projects may be back.So it may well not change anything at all!

Wish NKP would say what that CHAT was about!

d.