I wouldn't plan on incorporating this within the first five years of production, though it might be worth making provisions in the plant for future expansions. I'm unsure about tantalum and alumina being viable by-products. However, I see 2-3 potential by-products that could be considered.
First, phosphate. Based on CMOC's documents, their phosphate by-product doesn’t seem very profitable, essentially breaking even at their Niobium/Phosphate mine.
Second, TREO. If we can establish a substantial reserve, we could produce a concentrate and transport it to ARUFURA for processing. I wouldn’t support investing capital and time into building a rare earth processing facility ourselves. Lynas is a prime example of how long that can take. But producing a concentrate seems feasible.
Third, titanium. I don't know enough to make any solid suggestions yet, but our grades are in the medium to high range, so it's worth exploring further.
I say Focus on the Nb, CMOCs Profit margin on a 1-1.3% grade is around 37%.
WA1 Price at posting:
$14.83 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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