Interesting thread, I decided a couple of days ago to open and clean a very old Tokina 300mm F/5.5 lens which had several blades out of place. Unfortunately when I finally worked out how to get to the aperture mechanism, 3 of 18 blades had the same problem as you found. But, fortunately, the 3 small metal spigots were all able to be found in the mechanism, a small miracle in itself. I glued them back into place, quite tricky work if your eyesight is starting to give. Then there was all the fun of reassembling 18 blades, luckily the aperture is one that can be completely removed from the barrel, assembled, the top locating plate put in place, then dropped back into the barrel all in one piece.
I was slightly apprehensive (even though it's only a ten dollar lens) that the glue might not hold, however the aperture mechanism is now as smooth as the proverbial babies bottom. The lens itself is reasonable but not exceptional, with a 4 element 2 group arrangement, a double at the front and another at the rear of the lens.