Either new wa&%$@s or existing wa&%$@s with multiple HC...

Either new wa&%$@s or existing wa&%$@s with multiple HC accounts. The way they read it's the latter imo.

As for potential partners Rio may be on the hunt.

Rio Tinto flags shift in strategy in search for growth as tier-one assets dry up.

"Rio Tinto boss Jean-Sebastien Jacques has flagged a significant shift in strategy as the global resources giant looks for new growth options, telling a London audience mining majors may have to give up their preference for top-tier assets in order to grow.

Speaking at the London Metals Exchange annual conference in London on Monday night, Mr Jacques said the majors “need to think more like fast-moving juniors” in order to grow cash flow, develop new resources, and find new sources of profits.

The shift was first flagged by Rio’s innovation and development boss, Stephen McIntosh at Kalgoorlie’s Diggers and Dealers conference in August, in its approach to the emerging Winu discovery in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

But, faced with the end of growth at its Pilbara iron ore operations and falling grades or more difficult going at major copper mines such as Escondida and Kennecott, and big delays to its expansion plans at the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia, Mr Jacques floated the prospect that Rio may look for a quicker path to incremental growth.

It is not the first time Mr Jacques has toyed with a move into smaller assets. He set up the Rio Tinto Ventures unit in 2017 and tasked it with the search for non-traditional assets and partnership opportunities with junior and emerging miners, particularly in the battery metals and renewable energy space.

Rio exploration arm has been busy at the junior end of the industry.....cutting a swag of deals in the regions around Winu, and elsewhere, many of which — like a $6m agreement with Carawine Resources on Monday — include Rio taking an equity stake in its new partner, as well as committing to exploration spending."