I'm sure many a large investor knows nothing about mining and even if they did, why should they care about poor little miners? There'll always be someone to pick up the slack if the current ones evaporate.

I think we're long past the point where one entity can control anything. And if groups work in unison, they'll fall apart if one member sees profit by being contrary. There's no shortage of people who'd love to attempt to push prices to that level and no shortage of pussies willing to hand it to them.