Ann: Lynas Malaysia Plant to Restart on 4 May 2020, page-46

Only a process worker, small cog in a big wheel, could drill down to such a myopic POV, totally ignorant of the far broader economic factors that define any mkt let alone such a tiny "closed workshop" business as Tb/Dy > NdFeB.

HRE separation is probably the LEAST "essential" step, that knowledge was developed in the West over 50yrs ago by Rhodia/Solvay, it ain't rocket science, basically designing a flow sheet that best manages the volumes of individual elements in your feedstock to produce what you can sell profitably at mkt. Here's a dead simple one for you where the first stage would be separating TbDy with the medium weight SEG then a three stage process to separate Tb & Dy as the primary economic drivers, balance Ho > Lu stockpiled as & when.



Separation is NOT the Holy Grail, very clearly the twin "essentials" of HRE totally escape your "process" myopia which is hardly surprising given they are both economic:

Firstly, a feedstock to separation where the value of the elements contained at mkt is ~3x the cost of that feedstock > shouldn't be so difficult to understand Lynas twin advantage there.

Secondly, a customer/demand base where the addition of any significant supply to a tiny, closed mkt will not collapse price > nor should it be difficult to understand Lynas unique engagement to a critical portion of that mkt.

If you can ever get your head around those realities you may have a hope of understanding:

Punting Dy 2020, as smart as horseshoes 1920

Dy is an enabler, a means to an end, no one will ever create a viable business based on Dy.