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%

looks like lots of interesting reading about this over the w/e

Blimey,..... 50 stocks......hefty..!

i do it on CFD, but T10/20 would work just as well i guess ...... whichever one does, a guaranteed stop must surely be mandatory unless one is in need of a cure for severe constipation!

Cynic, and others if interested: here's some weekend reading for you from today's Times:

Move on Rio signals China's determination to secure supply

Aluminium group comes out of the shadows

Dealmaker role for Beijing as battle shifts to new metal

There's also this:

Link to Times website for earlier articles

Dinner is about to be served (aren't I lucky!) so may I wish happy studying!

If it's a spoiling move, I wonder if sp will head the same way as ITV after Sky's 135p grand purchase. Strange to think that you could have picked them up for 38 a fortnight ago when the world appeared to be caving in!

as far as i can determine, and i hope it's not wishful thinking, the consensus is that BLT will put in a low bid (norgreat surprise there), but a battle royal will ensue

I'm sure there will be a battle - there's too much at stake for the Chinese economy. This quote is from one of the above Times articles:

"Even before the ink was dry on China's deal to acquire a 12 per cent stake in Rio plc, advisers to Beijing had already approached regulators to get clearance to lift the holding to just under 20 per cent."

And I can just picture this meeting:

"It is now BHP's move. If Mr Kloppers is desperate, he might bid high for Rio and offer the Chinese a quick, dirty profit. More likely is a stalemate in which BHP makes a modest bid and the four companies, Rio, BHP, Chinalco and Alcoa sit around a table, awkwardly waiting for the first person to speak. It is like the good old days when Edwardian railroad and mining barons carved up the spoils in a gentlemen's club in Pall Mall."

interesting to note that BLT has strengethened again this morning, albeit quite modestly .... i do NOT believe that this is a reflection of a view that BLT will not step to the mark .... indeed, were that to happen, i rather suspect BLT sp will tumble

You could well be right, Cynic

So, Chinalco + Alcoa now have a 9% stake in RIO, but are also looking to buy a 35% stake in XTA. But, Anglo Am are interested in buying XTA as are Vale. But, at the same time BHP Biliton are interested in buying RIO, but that may now be blocked.
I hope I am not misreading this, but XTA would seem to be the most likely to be swallowed up or controlled by large shareholders. Unless BHP substantially revise their offer, RIO would appear to be safe from predators?

aussies not liking what is going on , if you care to read their press

i do not believe for one mo that RIO are safe ...... given that the chinese stake is effectively via the chinese gov't, it is a racing certainty that there will already have been talks at senior gov'mental level

some curious manoeuvring ......

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Tuesday that his government will assess Chinese state-owned aluminium giant Chinalco's application to move to a 19.9 percent stake in Rio Tinto on the basis of national interest under Australian foreign investment rules. ....... Chinalco said Monday it had voluntarily made a submission the FIRB to move to a 19.9 percent holding in Rio Tinto, the maximum level permitted before a takeover offer must be made under Australian takeover law.

But, the Chinese company said Monday it had no intention to move beyond the 12 percent holding it had jointly acquired with Alcoa Inc
Rudd said he had met today with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Canberra and had discussions regarding Chinalco's investment in Rio Tinto.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said he would apply the law in the national interest but he did not wish to comment on individual proposals.

BHP's board meet today to consider its options as well as sign off on the group's first half to December accounts.

The group will report its interim results early Wednesday morning in Sydney.

Analysts are forecasting the group (BHP) will report an interim net profit of about 6.45 billion US dollars, up from the previous first half's 6.17 billion dollars.

The result is expected to be down about 14 percent from the 7.5 billion dollar net profit posted for the second half of 2007, reflecting increasing costs across the group's operations and adverse currency movements.

and some more ......

BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, turned down an offer from Chinalco to discuss the Chinese company's acquisition of a 9 pct stake in the Rio Tinto group, the Times reported, citing no sources.

The Chinese state-owned aluminium producer is understood to have written to Don Argus, BHP Billiton's chairman, about starting talks, but is not thought to have received a reply, the paper said.

BHP Billiton's three-for-one share approach to Rio Tinto last November had been rejected by its smaller rival as undervaluing the company. BHP Billiton has been given a UK Takeover Panel deadline of tomorrow to make a formal offer or walk away for six months.

BHP Billiton is expected to make its intentions clear regarding Rio Tinto when it announces its interim results after the market's close in London tonight.

930pm London time according to their website

Couldn't find anything published here but this is on the Australian ASX website:

BLT offer for RIO: 61-page document 06 Feb2008

Basically 3.4 BLT shares for 1 RIO

Here's a link to the presentation by BLT re their offer for RIO:

Link to a 19-page presentation re BLT offer for RIO

at close of biz last night, BLT's bid was worth 5168
patently this was merely an opening salvo to force RIO to undo their flies or even take off their trousers.
it is certainly no less than reasonable to expect Chinalco to come back with a counter.
the Oz gov't will not be happy about this, but for sure there will have been high level talks between them and their counterpart in China

So
one now has the conundrum of guessing at what price a bid might be successful and then discounting that by the time element (it must surely take 6/9 months to completion) and also by the uncertainty as to whether everything will eventually fall apart at the seams.

at close of biz last night, RIO's sp was already 250 ahead of the game at 5418, so any purchase at that level is taking a fairly significant amount on trust

Fairly lengthy RNS out today from RIO, but we are not much further forward, imo.
"Analysts estimate the regulatory approval process could take up to a year to complete.
On whether BHP's approach could turn hostile, Rio Tinto said: 'It's a matter for them. We will play the card we are dealt with very thoughtfully.'
This would mean that any friendly takeover by BLT would be a very long & protracted affair, but a hostile takeover may seem more likely if BLT think that RIO's sought after price (?) is too great.