Frankly, I have some sympathy for RIO/BHP, but it seems to me...

Frankly, I have some sympathy for RIO/BHP, but it seems to me that those rail links could be augmented to accommodate FMG (at FMG's expense of course). This augmentation would be passing loops/sidings, etc




This is the only way this proposal can work,or else there would be chaos on the rail line.It's not like Rio can run train after train from any of it's mines.It is all about the final blend 65%Fe content and the blending is done at the stockyards at the port in 500,000 stockpiles.
They get a higher grade from one minesite and then that get's blended with a lower grade ore from another to get the Pilbara blend 65%Fe content.
And then you have a fines product as well.You also have delays with train breakdowns and reclaimer malfunctions at the minesites.Each train is over 2km long has 234 cars carrying 110 tonne in each.Rio has at least 20 of its own trains running on it's network over a 24hr period.
Hope Downs isn't even at full production yet and you also have Brockman 4 coming online early '09,not to mention other projects in the very near future.
So anyone that say's that the rail network is not an integral part of Rio's production line requires a reality check because you just don;t understand the shear scale of these projects up here in the Pilbara.