Few will recall that it was on Sams watch that 2 of the 4 hills...

Few will recall that it was on Sams watch that 2 of the 4 hills of Semendou were lost. Sams 1st problem was:

1. Rio had 4 hills richer than anything in the Pilbara, but they were far from the sea..Too far.

Sams solution was to pretend to develop those 4 hills...The Africans got upset and took 2 of the 4 hills from Rio..at this point Rio had lost $900 million.

Sams mate Dave Smith took the blame, after all he was near retirement and Sam got promoted..hes now the boss of Rio.

Sam was now faced with accepting a billion dollar write down or developing Semendou...so his 2nd problem arose.

2. Rio has a $10 billion mine requiring $20 billion additional to be spent on road and rail access and a deep sea port development to get the stuff out.

Sam is trying to get others to develop those roads and rail links at the same time as the mine is being developed to offset costs lost.