I'm not familiar with the activities of Friedland's controlling...

I'm not familiar with the activities of Friedland's controlling Canadian company and its capital requirements but it will certainly be well cashed up shortly following the Mongolian Government's support of it's huge Oyu Tolgoi copper & gold project. Rio is in a JV with Ivanhoe (Canada) and through a capital placement will have to move to 46% of the Canadian coy (todays The Age). This will presumably bolster its cash position but we have no info. on how these funds will be used.

Presumably Friedland will eventually sell down some of the 80% of the company he controls. The Merlin project is looking very promising and by the time the FS is finalised I'm confident that funding will not be difficult to secure. A CR further down the track also seems likely. Thanks for the last two posts, they have increased my optimism.