It was a genius called Marius Kloppers (since departed) who engineered spot pricing for iron ore - thus triggering a price bonanza (short lived) and a development bonanza (short lived) - and a profits tax circus (short lived) - after decades of relatively stable annual negotiations with the Japan steelmakers. The peak margin result was around a mind boggling times 5 as I remember.
And where are we now...BHP/Rio cost circa $43/44 I think?
This commodity is now a shambles to be avoided.
Revenge delivered by the Chinese side was always coming eventually.
