rio...., page-2

"I wonder when? any thoughts"

It isn't quite as simple as that. RIO, or anyone else, isn't likely to make a bid unless they think it's got a fair chance of succeeding. That means putting in an offer that Kalahari & other large s/hs are likely to find acceptable.

Kalahari, Stalker (who'd be advising Dattels, Mellon & co), Peter Mc & co aren't mugs. Nor do they need cash in a hurry (AFAIK). I'd be pleasantly surprised if RIO (or anyone else) was prepared to offer an amount that the big s/hs found acceptable at this stage (I doubt they'd entertain much less than US$1.5bn currently).. You'll need to read back on this board if you don't know who Dattels, Stalker & Mellon are.

I'm sure the preference of Extract's owners would be to keep drilling and see just how big what we've got is. This is only the maiden resource statement, so far.

BTW readers may be interested to learn that Dattels' man, Neil Herbert, has said today that there's been an offer for another of Dattels' companies, Polo Resources... and they're telling the offeror where to go :0). See http://fool.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200901260700102090M.html

"Polo Resources Ltd (AIM: PRL) announces that it has received an unsolicited, non-binding, indicative and highly conditional approach from Denham Commodity Partners Fund V LP, which may or may not lead to a cash offer being made for the Company.

The Board of Polo Resources considers the indicative approach to significantly undervalue the Company's assets...

Neil Herbert, Deputy Chairman of Polo Resources, said:

'We are pleased with the interest shown in Polo's assets and believe it illustrates the potential resource and significant value available to the Company, as well as the strategic importance of our Mongolian licenses. However, this approach does not appropriately reflect the value of our assets, particularly considering our strong working capital position of approximately US$78 million and equity stakes in Caledon Resources plc (26.3%) and GCM Resources plc (29.8%)....' "

Suggests they're not short of a cent or two, as I'd expected. ;0)

HTH,

Mark