HOT TOPIC: How are your survival skills?

Imagine for a minute that you shared the fate of the 33 trapped Chilean miners who could wait until the end of the year for rescue efforts to reach them. Would you survive underground for that long? The easy answer from our comfortable offices is "sure", but think about being confined in the dark against your will, then answer the question: How long would you survive being trapped underground?

Have your say by going to the CMJ home page, www.CanadianMiningJournal.com, and finding the Hot Topic Opinions question on the left hand side of the page. Comments to the editor Marilyn Scales, MScales@CanadianMiningJournal.com are always welcome.

Last week we asked our readers what they thought of BHP Billiton's hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. Only 2.5% think that BHP's original offer will be enough to bring the Canadian miner into its stable of operations. Very few (10%) expect a bidding war involving a third party to erupt. BHP will have to raise its offer is the opinion of 45%, and a stalwart 42.5% believe PotashCorp will never sell to the Australian company.