It seems agreed to the point of being bleeding obvious that EXT...

It seems agreed to the point of being bleeding obvious that EXT has a prize that no player in the U game be it miner or producer can ignore. And therefore the speculation about who ultimately pays is immaterial as it will be a competitive process.... with various parties bidding to own the asset all for themselves.. however.....

RIO is the natural miner as it already has a 25% shareholding and processing plant/mine right next door... and therefore will definately be part of the game from hereon in..

Accepting that Areva "can afford" to pay above the odds for U in the ground as its a small but essential part of its value adding operation, IMHO does not mean that Dattels gets his auction.

Why would Areva and RIO not form a JV type co (including the chinese as areva customer/partners) See Rossing, is it not the case that Iran owns a part of Rossing Mining (or whatever it's called) in JV with RIO.

This scenario everyones happy, Chinese Kudos & certainty of supply, RIO (see above), Areva ditto.......... well almost everyones happy......... no competitive bidding Dattels.. has to be happy with what the mooted JV offers him.

I don't think RIO is waiting for anything apart from lining up who else is going to be part of turning this deposit into electricity. RIO will mine this deposit who takes it from there is a question best asked of RIO.
Because of the Areva (et al U processors/electricity generators) value adding multiplier on unmined assets the JV will make a motza outa this world class deposit, the JV can afford to pay over the odds...... but if they put their heads together they won't.

Hey its gonna be sold for a price higher than what we can buy it today as it it too significant a discovery not to attract a premium, I just think the players will not cut each others grass to get it all for themselves.... in fact because it is such a significant discovery makes it more likely to be a JV including a miner (gotta be RIO as they've already got their stake), a processor and a customer/consumer. Dattels will sell his stake to whichever producer/processor offers him the most that much is obvious but RIO will have to be happy with whoever that is, but then why should they care who it is, they are as others have pointed out a miner after all. RIO will probably want more than what they've got but will not bid against another to get it.
Sorry if I'm repeating myself, I'm trying to get excited about Aus 4-272 in the second innings whilst typing this