scittyandcross, Treasury forward commodity pricing must have...

scittyandcross, Treasury forward commodity pricing must have known to be erroneous as they are the 'the Treasury'; smart boys paid big bucks for their substantial experience. When the budget was formulating it would have been easy to fudge figures using present pricing without looking at forward factors. Real easy.

Miners knew a tax would come and it was obvious that the rspt was ill conceived and poorly sold. They had the government on the ropes and knew it. Once Rudd was gone out came the champagne. The new tax is little more than a flea bite.

RIO is a member of an oligopoly with influence on the Iron ore price and supply. RIO works closely with Chinese mills. There is enormous expenditure in the Pilbara area now and RIO's latest investment is probably related to supply issues.