Some people in the business are predicting that the price of...

Some people in the business are predicting that the price of gold will come back to around USD $1,100 mark in the long run and that the price of iron ore currently at $182/t will come back to around $90/t by 2017, 2018.

I believe that management at FML must be well aware of that possibility and that their strategy is to take as much advantage as possible of the current buoyancy in the gold price and that the takeover of Crescent may have been in part motivated by that consideration. That is, that putting money into projects requiring four or five years to come on line is simply too risky.

I also believe that Stone went into this with their eyes well open and that in order to have their price raised they just have to wait and be as much obtrusive as possible. For instance, with their current share of the capital of the company they can ask for special meetings of shareholders plus, of course, representation at the board level, etc, etc.

One possible solution is indeed to give them a seat at the board and options at ridiculous low prices as it is customary in companies operating in countries where corruption at all levels is a normal way of life. Whether or not the shareholders of the Stone Group (I think that the group is listed in the Hong Kong Exchange) will gain anything will be, of course, irrelevant.