'blastfurnace' said: "So why would RIO be considering a project...

'blastfurnace' said: "So why would RIO be considering a project that by their own bullish timeline would take at least 6 years to develop?"

Why...? Because that's what they, RIO do, they mine and sell 'dirt'..!
And they aren't doing too good, just trying to sell their rusty old 'iron-dirt' at the moment, and probably won't do any better with that either, for quite a few years to come yet.
In the meantime though, they'd probably like to try to actually make some money, by trying to sell 'other sorts' of slightly 'more desirable' dirt, like Lithium dirt.
Whether they will actually manage to do so profitably though, is a question that remains to be answered in "at least 6 years" time.