I was actually one of the few lucky shareholders who got Rio...

I was actually one of the few lucky shareholders who got Rio just below $88 last year in that crash. I got 1,500 shares and another 500 just over $88. Albeit I have traded in and out of a lot of RIO positions. I still hold those shares, some other long termers plus whatever I got recently.

the key to the current environment is looking ahead. Energy transition… that needs steel and copper. Lithium at this point won’t be a major driver of Rio earnings. Regardless of rates trillions in government spending and even private capital on transmission lines will be spent using vast amounts of steel and copper. This means RIO and BHP will be doing very well. Despite all the issues in China, iron ore is still around $100 USD. Can thank inflation for that.

The other point on inflation is that cost of bringing large new mines into production. It costs a whole lot more to bring mines, especially bulks into production. Which means you need much much higher commodity prices to increase supply. Hence legacy assets like BHP and RIO have are terrific, would cost $10s of billions more to bring say their pilbara scale assets into production. Which is why RIOs African adventure concerns me. Copper - grade issues, so again need higher prices to encourage supply. Supply in my view won’t meet demand, especially for copper. Nickel as well whoever Rio isn’t a player there and that’s a much more complex and difficult business to find.