Rio Tinto is a world leader in finding, mining and processing the earths mineral resources. The Groups worldwide operations supply essential minerals and metals that help to meet global needs and contribute to improvements in living standards. Rio Tinto encourages strong local identities and has a devolved management philosophy, entrusting responsibility with accountability to the workplace. Major products include aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy products (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc and zircon), and iron ore. The Groups activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa. Rio Tinto comprises wholly owned subsidiaries (such as Borax, Comalco, Hamersley, Rio Tinto Coal Australia, Kennecott and Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium), partly owned subsidiaries (Coal & Allied and Palabora) and non-managed, (Escondida) and joint ventures (Grasberg) in which public shareholders, other companies or governments are partners.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Iron:        29%
Coal:       19%
Copper     18%
Aluminum: 14.5%
Minerals:  12.5%
:              6%
Misc:        1%

a profit's a profit .... but bought some back at 3408

edit..34.46. what is the dealing charge for you cynic??

gold up at 1118$

think brokers have these 40

.

back again to 34.20 lol

only commission to pay - 29.82 on 350 shares, so whatever % that is
also, as i deal on L2, no enhanced spread or similar and of course no stamp duty

only commission to pay - 29.82 on 350 shares, so whatever % that is
also, as i deal on L2, no enhanced spread or similar and of course no stamp duty

i thought 3600 was going to prove a stubborn resistance, so i top-sliced just below, not least because i was a bit o'weighthere ..... as it happens, sp surged almost straight through, so it'll be interesting to see if it can be maintained

sold out friday...... mistake

did you make a profit? ..... if so, not a mistake at all, and arguably not if you cut losses ..... hindsight's great

yes with profit but more is frustratingly better....

just looked the time of your post.....get a life cyners, men in white coats will be calling...:))

i'm in dubai at thye mo so 4 hours ahead of you guys

New article, click HERE

Miners braced for plunge in earnings as Australia draws up fresh tax grab


Some of the biggest companies listed in London face soaring tax demands after Australia said that it would press ahead with plans to further tap the profits of miners.

A new Resource Super Profits Tax also known as the Henry Tax, after the Treasury Secretary Ken Henry will force BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and others to hand over 40 per cent of profits made on their Australian operations from July 2012.

Demand for iron and coal from India, China and other parts of Asia has helped the Australian economy to ride out the global downturn in better shape than any other advanced economy. However, the Australian Government led by Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister, argues that the royalties paid by miners to state administrations have not kept pace with companies profits. Ministers claim that over the past five years taxpayers have been short-changed to the tune of A$35 billion (21.2 billion) by the mining industry.

The industry expressed its disappointment at the proposed measures yesterday and warned that they would make investment in Australia far less attractive and ultimately would damage rather than bolster the economy. Marius Kloppers, BHPs chief executive, said: If implemented, these proposals seriously threaten Australias competitiveness, jeopardise future investments and will adversely impact the future wealth and standard of living of all Australians.

Industry experts estimated that the new tax scheme could lead to those companies earnings being slashed. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that the earnings of BHP, with 51 per cent of its assets in Australia, would be pared by 19 per cent. Earnings of Rio, the worlds second-largest iron ore exporter with about a third of its assets in Australia, would fall by 30 per cent.

Shares in miners were marked sharply lower towards the end of last week in anticipation of the new plans. David Cassidy, chief strategist at UBS, the Swiss bank, expected them to fall still further after the news. He also cautioned that the new tax may stymie mergers in the mining sector and could threaten to derail the A$3.7 billion bid by Peabody Energy, an American coalminer, for Macarthur Coal, an Australian resource company.

The Minerals Council of Australia, a trade body, attacked the proposals as an unprecedented double tax, which would make the countrys mining industry the most heavily taxed in the world. It said that the sector made up 8 per cent of the economy but accounted for 18 per cent of all company tax in Australia, paying A$25 billion.

Mitch Hooke, chief executive of the MCA, said: There is real risk that many of these taxation gains that the Government is banking on may prove illusory if the secondary round impacts are a deterrent to investment.

However, Mr Rudd said: Companies will not pay the tax until after they have provided shareholders with the normal return on capital investments and only then on any additional profit.

Mr Rudd, who is seeking re-election this year, has earmarked the funds raised from the resource rent tax to deliver a pensions boost for all Australians and across-the-board business tax cuts.

Treasuryman

Ken Henry, appointed Treasury Secretary in 2001 by Australias former Liberal government, became the go-to man for Kevin Rudds Labor administration in the financial crisis. The 52-year-old economist, who has drawn flak for alleged political bias, is seen as the architect of the Governments A$42 billion (25 billion) stimulus, designed to mitigate any economic slump. Reportedly he advised: Go early, go hard and go households. In 2008, he was asked to conduct a root-and-branch review of tax

Seems to be recovering from tax sting... in profit today

Broker note today from UBS:
"Australian Labor Party replaced Rudd with Gillard as PM Today the ruling Australian Labor Party replaced Kevin Rudd as its leader and Prime Minister, with Julia Gillard (former Deputy Prime Minister).

Gillard opens door for a period of negotiation on RSPT Following todays announcement, Gillard renewed the Labor Partys support for a mining tax, but has called for a new period of discussion. Importantly, she has said the government must not only consult but also negotiate, suggesting some compromise could eventually be forthcoming. As an act of good-faith, the ALP has withdrawn their advertising campaign, and asked the miners to do the same. In response, BHP also announced it was suspending its advertising campaign.

We still believe the ALP will look to implement a mining tax. We believe it remains highly likely that a mining tax will be introduced. However, following today, it seems almost assured that a diluted version of the initial version of the RSPT will eventuate. However, given the proposed new negotiation, the resolution of details may now be further in the future opening up a longer period of uncertainty for the miners

Our prior NPV impacts represent the worst case scenario for the miners.
We currently estimate a 18% impact to Rio; 15% impact to BHP; 7% for Xstrata from the tax. We consider this the worst case scenario and see potential upside from here. Stocks impacted: Rio Tinto (Key Call in Europe,
Buy, PT 4235p, A$109), BHP Billiton (Buy, PT 2330p/A$53), Xstrata (Neutral, PT 1100p), Anglo American (Buy, PT 3150p). Expect a short term bounce in the miners"

Bounced off of 40 quid twice today.

5 year chart is quite interesting .... 4000 could be a bit of a resistance