westcott - any number of SDL's announcements & presso's wil point you to the maiden Reserve of 251.5m tonnes at 63.6% Fe.
Compare that with Rio's Pilbara reserves of over 2.8b tonnes and you can see why Rio are not interested - the capital intensity required for SDL's project is much higher than that required to expand existing Pilbara operations.
And Hismelt is an excellent example of why low grade resources are not on the radar of BHP and Rio - Hismelt was an economic failure, as was HBI. The big boys are not interested in processing low grade ore to get a higher grade product. They have tried it and it doesn't work for them.
The question was asked (by Indigo) why BHP and Rio would let SDL go to the Chinese - the answer is that it is not big enough to matter.
Either that or BHP & Rio are incompetent for not being able to see what HC posters can see.
My money is on Rio and BHP knowing what they are doing.
SDL Price at posting:
52.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
