Rail approvals, page-47

Without too much effort or thought I can think of at least two operators in the area that have iron ore reserves in the proposed rail corridor from Balla Balla to PIOP, they are Mineral Resources and Brockman. That is without looking into who else holds tenements that are stranded in the same corridor, let alone if the rail corridor was extended further south-west or south-south-west of PIOP and arced around towards Tom Price.

IF TIO take a toll processing path for Balla Balla then I suspect the fee structure will take big licks from participating miners, aka Macquarie styled and sized fees but this would be sold to the WA government as something of a life-saver for the sector and region given no-one else has much of an appetite for asset or infrastructure sharing. But where does that leave Todd with Shandong given Shandong want the ore for its own purposes back in China and this approach doesn't give them that unless TIO intend on either buying or channeling the miners ore to their own client, Shandong, for another suite of fees of course.

IF TIO are investing in Balla Balla with various preparatory work then I suspect this is more about increasing the asset value of BBIG for a possible merger with FMS and only then if successful will they pursue the rail programme otherwise they will continue with Balla Balla only and revise the plan and financials for a toll plant for either their own use or a sale.

I would not hang on to words of the chairman of FMS too much, look at where that has got you so far. I also would not hang on to past financial models as being relevant today as they can be modified as fast as you can blink an eye and even the news article indicated they (BBIG) have revisited the base assumptions and financials from previous incarnations.

You need to stay fluid and flexible to options and ideas as they appear and the windows of opportunity present themselves. Like late last year for one and early this year for another. A new opportunity appears to be forming based on one of the two scenarios above and it will be the collective minority shareholder to support or reject it as it unfolds so it is still one of the hold on to those shares for now.

By the way if I was smart, to quote you, I would have bought in when it dropped below 1 cent earlier this year. I guess I am just not as smart as you.