iron ore update, page-23

firstly, i will qualify by saying that i am not up to date with the ins and outs of the vale agfreement. i hope that i can be corrected here.

My immediate view of the announcement was that vale has drilled as little of the prospect it has to in order to define a resource. this resource will necessarily be on the small end of things and they will move to buy the asset for the lower end of the range, possibly knowing full well that there is greater potential.

i mean thats what i would do. if i had a commitment to explore and an option to take an asset, id fulfil my obligation, value it as low as possible, pay as little as possible and then explore its full potential once i was in control.

i hope that there are things i don't know about this agreement (highly likely) that make what i've said an implausible scenario.