This is a very interesting piece of speculation. Would Rio...

This is a very interesting piece of speculation. Would Rio really sell out of Rossing...well any sentimental attachment to working in a developing country may have been lost after the Nam govt slapped a punitive 6% royalty rate on Rossing sales two years (its normally 3% eg at Langer Heinrich) because Rio objected to royalties in principle. This has badly hit operating profits as the last two Rio annual reports show.

Could CGNPC afford to buy that as well as Extract? Wonder what the valuation of Rossing would be? $350m? Peanust compared to the $3.5bn the Chinese are shelling out for Husab.

Of course Rio owns only 69% of Rossing- other shareholders are the Nam government 3.5%, Iran 10%, SAfrica's IDC (still) 15%.