Obviously RIO is not a growth story but with earnings like this...

Obviously RIO is not a growth story but with earnings like this RIO can organically grow and/or acquire itself more assets into perpetuity and that is regardless of the commodity prices.

As I said in HC many times Post #:68968309square away the majors in the portfolio they at least offer capital protection, dividends and plenty of cash and cashflow for the vicissitudes of the mining lifecycle. Most of the time explorers and small cap miners are more trouble than they are worth. High risk high return, inconsistent production, accretion (if at all) is lumpy and needs a very close eye on the balance sheet. Not the place to be when access to capital is hard to come by and interest is far from cheap. Mining is inherently capital intensive but these small cap miners are even more so. Best kept to a minimum in the portfolio.

But I get what you are saying. Even though it is a slim occurrence (Pierre Lassonde has the odds and timeframes) you do get the rags to riches story regularly in the ASX. In mining, I doubt we have seen the last of the rags to riches story either... worth it in the end see below but I would caution against betting the farm on explorers and small cap miners.