"2. Has inflation and the reasons Panoramic provided in today’s announcement really moved up costs this much?". .... given that inflation and wage rises are important/prominent issues for all businesses over this last yr it would be astonishing if there wasn't such an increase in costs.
consider the difficulties replacing worn or broken machinery parts they mention. down times for necessary machinery, workers not able to do the job because of the breakdown, additional costs sourcing replacement parts yet we wouldn't be happy with a over-large storage of spares....
I think you're being overly harsh on costs. I think they've managed to keep the plant going and are projecting new fields for evaluation as well.
yes I am concerned about cost blow-outs too, but lets be realistic about this.
