sdl plan b, page-25

Yeah - it is a lot of posts. Here is one more which might explain soft SP price. Wall Street Journal.

BHP casts doubt on new iron ore basin in West Africa
BY: ALEX MACDONALD From: Dow Jones Newswires October 26, 2012 9:39AM

BHP Billiton cast doubt on the future of a new iron-ore basin in West Africa, saying that Brazil and Australia have enough iron-ore resources on their own to satisfy global demand growth for the key steelmaking raw ingredient.

Many mining companies and steelmakers flocked to West Africa over the last decade to develop new iron-ore projects in order to satisfy robust demand from China, the world's largest steelmaker, as it continued to undergo fast-paced urbanisation and industrialisation.

Mining companies are now taking a more conservative approach to their capital expenditure plans in light of concerns about the health of the global economy.

The world's top three iron-ore producers, Brazil's Vale and Anglo-Australian mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, were once keen to develop projects in West Africa, particularly in Guinea, but only Rio Tinto is still in the process of developing its project.


Vale, the world's largest producer, decided Wednesday to put its Zogota iron-ore project in Guinea on hold due in part to an uncertain regulatory environment in the African country and said it would focus on its projects closer to home. BHP also is reviewing its plans for its Mount Nimba project in Guinea, a BHP spokesman said.

"On West Africa in general, we have for years and years been of the [view] that Brazil and Australia combined can substantially supply the additional incremental" iron-ore demand growth, said BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers on the sidelines of the company's annual general shareholders' meeting.

"We believe the production in Brazil and in Australia will be sufficient to meet demand, and there is increasing consensus, and a recognition by investors and the market, that this is indeed the case," he said.

"You've progressively seen the other companies come to a conclusion that is closer to our position than to the position that they occupied a couple of years ago," he added.

Vale said Wednesday it decided to put its Zogota iron-ore project in Simandou, Guinea, on hold until it has more clarity about royalties and the government's stake in the project, among other things. Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani said that the time required to resolve the regulatory questions surrounding the project fits with Vale's current strategy, allowing the company to focus on projects closer to home and keep Simandou as a future growth option.

Zogota, which is already fully licensed by the Guinean government, was on track to produce two million tons of iron ore from 2012, eventually rising to 15 million tonnes a year, at a cost of $US1.26 billion.

Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest iron-ore producer, is still developing its Simandou project in conjunction with Aluminum Corp of China, or Chalco. The company plans to start producing iron ore from the project by mid-2015 and increase iron-ore output to 95 million metric tonnes a year in the future at a total cost of more than $10 billion. It has invested around $US1.5 billion to develop the project to date, according to its website.