Good points Sevo. Back when they published the PFS an exchange rate of 0.75 was really realistic. Now assuming 0.65 is quite positive in my opinion because they assuming a worse cost scenario than what is currently the real market price. At current exchange rates, US$415 million are AU$582 million. Nobody can predict the future exchange rates but this works as an additional contingency. Of cause it depends on how much of the construction costs are paid in AU$. Maybe they removed AU$ because most of the big debt funding is executed in US$? Just a quick idea, not sure if this is right.
It seems like they implemented some buffers into their calculations. This goes on part with the assumed SOP price as I wrote earlier. They assumed US$500/t. For reference, KLL assumed US$606/t in their BFS. Maybe that's why the official contingency is just around US$30 million.
Regarding the haulage costs I also would expect maybe a higher outcome but in the end every cent counts I guess. Personally, I have to say that I find these super long haulage trucks very impressive, would be unbelievable on European roads.
I've updated the comparison tables between the Australian SOP projects and added the new Mackay DFS numbers. They can be found here: https://commodity-screener.com/shares-of-future-sulfate-of-potash-sop-fertilizer-producers/
But still, the upfront costs are high (two high if you asked me given what I've experienced in the last years). But maybe the management is able to come up with financing in the "near" future. The pure project numbers are definitely very positive.
I guess the fact that they don't pump brine from deeper areas using pumps is one of the reason why the cash costs are that low.
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