shocking past 3 days for RIV. it's cost me a bundle but am hanging-in.Virtually eveything RIO do turns to ashes. Buy if they want to buy RIV i'll certainly be willing to sell em my shares. A longer shot but not inconceivable.
'Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Sam Walsh said the synergies on offer from a planned iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton could rise as the pair share more information. Walsh made the comments at an investor briefing in Sydney at which Rio gave off more signals it is regaining its confidence after a turbulent 18 months and also tipped some areas to watch for growth, including coal in Mongolia and iron ore in India. Rio and BHP have said they expect potential synergies of more than US$10bn from bringing together their businesses in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and Walsh said that, once regulatory approval is received, they will be able to make a more detailed study of potential savings. "I suspect that when we are able to jump the fence and we are able to look at the synergies that they have been tracking and developing versus the ones that we have been developing, there will in fact be greater opportunity than we originally thought," he said
One of the messages of the briefing was that Rio is broadening its growth focus beyond the three core commodities of iron ore, copper and aluminium and would now be driven by the quality of the opportunity, not the commodity. Albanese pointed to coal in Mongolia as one area where Rio could invest more funds, with Mongolian coal likely to end up being sold into the seaborne markets in China at similar prices to those of seaborne coal. "From my perspective this is a place we need to be investing," he said. Albanese said Rio already has investments in coal in Mongolia through its stake in Ivanhoe Mines and through its own coal exploration ground. Walsh also highlighted Rio Tinto's long-stalled iron ore joint venture in India's Orissa province as a project that was finally moving forward, calling it an "outstanding opportunity". "We have made substantial progress with our partners," Walsh said. RIO dipped 99 cents (1.55%) to $62.79 and BHP fell 74 cents (1.98%) to $36.71'.
RIV Price at posting:
$5.21 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
