Rio Tinto on thick ice

I've been down a rabbit hole researching a story for the last few days – an elaborate conundrum which I'd dearly love to unravel before Easter. Suddenly, I realised most of the week had elapsed and you'd heard diddly squat from me. 

Upon re-engaging with current affairs on Wednesday, I was particularly tickled by the Albanese and Crisafulli governments' $2 billion bailout of Rio Tinto's Boyne aluminium smelter. Bear in mind that consecutive Rio Tinto CEOs have been turning up at the offices of consecutive prime ministers with their hands out for Commonwealth subsidies to prop up their failing Australian aluminium operations. 

This goes back to the glory days of Rio Tinto's mad king Jean-Sébastien Jacques, who declared at Rio's half-year results briefing in August 2019 that its Pacific Aluminium division was "on very thin ice". Hilariously, this dramatic warning came in response to a question from a journalist about cost inflation in the iron ore division.

Six months later on his next results call, Jacques claimed "the ice is actually becoming slightly thinner".