The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday, Oct. 26, edition that Lundin Mining's successful conclusion of the review of Tenke Fungurume Mining's contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo must have HudBay Mining shareholders wondering what life would be like now had the Nov. 21, 2008, merger gone through. The Post's Barry Critchley writes that it is a certainty that HudBay shareholders would have ended up a lot better off had the miner been successful in issuing $488-million of stock and buying Lundin. Try about $800-million better off, or $5 to $6 a share given that HudBay has 149 million shares outstanding. HudBay shares closed Monday at $16.39. As of Monday, HudBay has a market cap of $2.44-billion, while Lundin has a cap of $4-billion -- a gap of $1.56-billion. Half the difference, or $780-million, was left on the proverbial table by HudBay shareholders. "By their actions the HudBay shareholders have deprived themselves of an enormous windfall," says an unnamed observer. Another unnamed observer says, "Notwithstanding all the noise at the time, it looks like that the smartest guys in the room were actually" former chief executive officer "Allan Palmiere and the board of HudBay after all."