If they institute a buy back when they are probably making...

If they institute a buy back when they are probably making losses on every tonne of ore shipped, then they are taking a huge gamble that the price of iron will increase... quickly. If it does, the company benefits, but on the flip side; less capital in the face of continued sustained falls in the iron ore price due to share buy backs will increase the risk of this business actually going bust, or having to raise capital at even lower prices than what they had bought shares back for.

I concur with others who have suggested that at the moment, this is nothing more than a punt on the iron ore price. Don't look at past dividends as signposts for the future. Those were paid out when the price of iron was much much higher and when they were making profits for everyone tonne they shipped. This is not the case at the moment.

DYOR