rio and procurement?, page-8

some good points there jcoulter.... it's hard being a small fish in the pond when theres other giants around.
I can't see FMS competing in the current environment. Chances are they get taken out or mine themselves & sell to one of the players with infrastructure or all will remain is X?? tonnes of low grade ore in ground.
Don't forget that the bigger players are continuing to discover more & more of their own tonnes and developing more of their own mines to meet the demand, and with existing rail & port plus offtake agreements it's too easy..they also have access to whatever capex required. the iron ore kings have been doing this since the 70's, and much earlier if you include res dev / exploration etc, FMG disturbed the universe somewhat but they are competing on a different level, their ore doesn't fetch nearly the price that their two brothers get, the Fe content is low & impurities (Si etc) high.