RE:Question on agreement with Rio ?Let's review the Investor's Rights Agreement from SEDAR. Section 5.2, Paragraph 1 discusses Rio's restrictions on further share purchases - basically they can only subscribe to newly issued (dilutive, to us) shares from Western directly. However, if any third party (NEM, for example) makes a take-over bid, Rio's restrictions are off and they can do what's needed to try & come over the top. As stated on page 30 of the Agreement:
"the foregoing restrictions shall cease to apply to the Investor (Meaning, Rio): (A) upon a public announcement by the Corporation (WRN) that it has agreed to a merger, business combination, amalgamation, arrangement or direct or indirect sale of all or substantially all of its assets with or to a Third Party (Anyone except Western, Rio, or either's affiliates) which, if the transaction is successfully completed, will result in the shareholders of the Corporation (Again, Western) holding less than 50.0% of the voting securities of the resulting corporation or entity (or its parent corporation or entity, if the resulting corporation or entity is to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of another corporation or entity after successful completion of the transaction); (B) upon the commencement or public announcement of a bona fide take-over bid for the common shares of the Corporation by a Third Party (or an affiliate of such Third Party); or (C) upon a public announcement by the Corporation that it has entered into an agreement with a Third Party pursuant to which the Corporation has agreed to a treasury issuance of securities, which if completed would result in the acquisition of Common Shares or Convertible Securities representing 9.9% or more of the then outstanding Common Shares (on a non-diluted basis) by any person or group of persons (other than the Investor, any affiliate of the Investor or any person acting jointly or in concert with any of them)."
See? The Investor Right's agreement specifically discusses Western's ability to entertain bids from the outside. Now, and as I've mentioned before, that Rio has a board observer, they'd theoretically have the inside scoop if someone else is expressing interest and that interest is being taken seriously enough as to merit discussion among the BOD.