Shareholders must be starting to feel the same about Rio Tinto’s directors as Winston Churchill felt about the Americans: they can always be counted on to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities.

The miner has reached the desired destination – a big rights issue – by a circuitous route. There have been stop-offs in Beijing (to haggle with Chinalco and its state owners) and Canberra (to lobby Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board). Along the way Rio has seen its chairman, Paul Skinner, disembark and its chairman-designate, Jim Leng, climb on board, only to step smartly off again. Tom Albanese, chief executive, can sit tight for now, though he still carries the taint of the Alcan deal that helped propel Mr Skinner to the exit.