resurgent rio bets on iron , page-17

It's interesting to look at Rio's announcements on how much they intend to spend on their Pilbara expansions. The total seems to be $16.8bn over 18 months to the end of 2011. They say they've spent $4bn already and will spend $11bn in 2011.
Tonight they were reported on Sky Business channel as announcing a $1.2bn spend on expanding their current mines at Brockman and another mine I can't recall including constructing a conveyor to their rail loading area. Sam Walsh is addressing a Mining Council meeting tomorrow so we'll hear more about this then.
I still reckon they've got about $10-12bn to spend in 2011.
They say they're filling in the deposit gaps on their rail lines - at least IOH deposits are in the gaps on the Rio rail lines both in the western and eastern Pilbara. $10-12bn buys a lot of ore and builds a lot of conveyor belts.