I applaud your cautionary note, however so far the stated intent...

I applaud your cautionary note, however so far the stated intent is to 'aquire' a stake of about 15%. This could indeed be achievable from the available pool of retail stock in the company which by my reckoning must be somewhere between 30% to 40%. In the current SP environment, it may well be possible to make an offer sufficient to unseat enough of us to get the stake or at the very least, create upward pressure on the SP. Neither Rio nor KAH et al want a wedge driven in here, and another player at 15% will further dissipate their current levels of control (real or perceived).

Its always been obvious that any upward momentum in the SP was going to come from the retail ownership, as any further acquisition by the major holders would, by virtue of their choke hold on the registry, force them to declare their final intent.

Already there are rumblings from other corporate shareholders (the NWT/Niger affair) about EXT and nothing else, brought about by the liquid immobility of the choked EXT registry. If nothing else, the March 18 deadline (my birthday by the way) will draw a line under a price for 'external' participation in whatever form it comes.