Some interesting thoughts, D12. Clearly, if you were a major, you wouldn't be RioTinto.

" More than $6.8-billion (U.S.) in Canadian spending commitments made by RioTinto PLC are being delayed or suspended as the London mining giant wrestles with the crushing debt load it took on to buy Alcan Inc. " Others have cut production and laid off workers. Right now they have more than their hands full trying to keep their nose above water. This declining economy is still in the depths and still heading down. For most big investors, any rally is an excuse to raise cash. And it will take a while yet before this builds a bottom. Perhaps a year down the road, countries like China and India will begin to show some growth again, and that will firm up demand. The fact that operations are closing rather than producing and stockpiling is a good thing. That means there should be no large inventories to clear out before prices firm up. Someone posted an uptick in nickle prices and this may be behind that. For now the majors will be struggling to stay alive and they know, like the rest of us, the ore isn't going anywhere. When this economy comes full circle, they will be interested. It is interesting that 29 cents of our 47 cent value is in cash. That will be spent on drilling over time. I hope the money raised will last until markets improve. I bought more last week and am ready to buy a few more anytime. If those shares sold on the PP had to be bought on the open market, the share price would not be 47 cents for us to buy now. And, as you say they get a tax break. The open market doesn't come with sweetners either. But I'll take the bargain price.