exxaro and eqx tie up talks, page-9

Some reading re where Vale thinks IO prices will move into the future;

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/BHP-Vale-commodity-prices-mining-boom-investment-pd20120615-V9SSA?OpenDocument&emcontent_Liddington-Cox

I particularly liked this;

"Vale says iron ore has an effective floor price of around $US120/130 a tonne, because expensive Chinese producers can’t compete at those levels. About one third of Chinese production is low grade, with cash costs as high as $US130 a tonne or the current price. Vale believes that when prices hit the Chinese cash cost their production eases or ceases, which pushes up the price."

It's a theory that I knew about (Chinese OPEX costs providing an effective floor), and I think it's why the Chinese are trying to invest in overseas IO operations and bring their production costs down. But in the short term, a floor of that $120-$130p/t would be great for EQX.