Here is the article. Funny coming out the very next day after the TO rumor she put out herself. Now why would Macquarie rush out to advise her/us of this not being possible?Large-scale mergers and acquisitions could be off the table at Rio Tinto for now, say Macquarie analysts, but the group is keen on smaller opportunities.
At a recent analyst meeting, Rio Tinto chief Jakob Stausholm said it was difficult for Rio to acquire large-scale projects.
While the $34bn Teck Resources bid by Glencore in early April suggested that the equity market could be accommodative to transactions among large-scale miners, Mr Stausholm believed that it was difficult for Rio to acquire large projects or companies for value.
Yet the company is interested in smaller-scale targets like prospective copper and gold miner Rincon Resources, which has a $5m market value, or organic growth from its existing portfolio.
He also talked about the lack of skilled labour in the region of its Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea to support the large-scale mining operation.
Industry sources say that obtaining the right staff for projects is tough going, and some even suspect that one of the motivating factors for BHP to buy OZ Minerals was to acquire a workforce.
