Ann: Dividend/Distribution - RIO, page-63

Yes, for me, I suppose it is a case of once bitten - twice shy. I simply no longer trust certain companies to consider shareholders first. Four months ago, I had the occasion to accompany several people involved in the field of engineering on a tour of China. This included a fly past (at distance) of the artificial islands being built in the South China Sea (one can only guess the reason as to why they are being built, our hosts wouldn't elaborate). I hadn't been to China for 15 years and the infrastructure progress since my last visit stunned me. One of our Chinese hosts hosts opined that Australia had provided over 80% of the resources required for their advancement. He followed that comment by the boast that China had produced more steel in the previous 12 months than the United States had produced in the previous ten years.

It's only from this perspective that one truly gets a notion of how much profit our miners have made over the past decade or two and to what extent Australia has benefited given it has been used as China's quarry. One may well ask "where has the profit gone?". Certainly it hasn't much benefited shareholders. The market is nearly open here in Canada where I live and NY is showing a further drop in the price of RIO. At the end of trade today, RIO may well have fallen more than 20% from its high two months ago. How disappointing for shareholders, particularly given the recent financials. Warren Buffett claims he would never invest in mining - he has been less clear on his reasons, although one might easily guess.

I've really not much else to add to the conversation except to wish all share holders a great day and good luck with all their holdings, irrespective of sector.