I would doubt your thesis that PEM needs CBH more than CBH needs...

I would doubt your thesis that PEM needs CBH more than CBH needs PEM, Azzumah.

CBH has a $120M+ bill if it wants to build a concentrator at Broken Hill. PEM, however, will only gain by toll treating Rasp ore; it drives its own unit costs down for no nett outlay and can even make a small nominal profit off the ore.

CBH is stuffed if it doesn't; Panorama is its best bet and in needs the copper from there to de-lever itself from Pb-Zn, and it can only do this or Rasp, not both.

PEM can do Mt Oxide to get access to copper, this being only one expansion, not 2 or 3 if you count Mineral Hill/Hera which CBH is playing round with.

Fact is, CBH is burning cash doing 3 declines (though 2 are 'halted'), and desperately needs a return on Rasp. Without this, it is knackered. The only sensible wa to do it is a merger on PEM's terms, or toll treatment on PEM's terms.

To my mind, PEM holds the cards because it holds the only mill on the Hill.

This is not to say that merging is sensible, we all know that. The thing is, this is a definite ploy by PEm to starve CBH out and get a better term sheet. Whether it works will be up to investors and the size of the cojones on both sides. Your loyalty aside, it is clear CBH has bitten off way more than it can chew right now and needs to rationalise its affairs or its swag of project commissionings will drag it down. PEM is on life support at these zinc-lead prices but it isn't so knackered because it doesn't need to drive declines in 2 mines nor build a new mine in the Pilbara from scratch. Its cash burn is minimal, the Zn silicate ore is as valuable as all get out, and it holds all the cards.