Hello. I already replied. PTR appear to have a very unique unique deposit, where there this no comparison in the world.
As for Iluka, what they are mining geographically near PTR (and shipping to WA for processing) is not close to PTR mineralisation. The Iluka deposit called 'Ambrosia' is in the blue coloured table below. The comparison to PTR is as follows:
1. PTR have so far announced HM of around 11% and are targeting an average HM of around 9% (i.e., 6% titanium). Iluka has HM of 1.3% to 2.1% (per the blue table below).
2. However, Iluka's HM is comprised of 48% zircon and 4% rutile (per the blue table below). Zircon & rutile sell for around US$2000 and US$1,800 per tonne. Iluka mines this and sends it to WA to make pure zircon & rutile. This process requires high CAPEX and has high OPEX. I guess it is AUD$ (i will not look it up again); my spreadsheet shows Iluka are currently producing at $1,353/t OPEX; up from around $850/t in previous years.
3. PTR 11% HM is around 13% rutile (64% x 21% orange table below) and 72% (86% titanium plus iron less 13% rutile) super high grade ilmenite (called "pseudo-rutile") . Rutile (95%+ titanium) sells for around US$1800/t however we are merely guessing the pseudo-rutile might sell for US$600/t.
4. The PTR CAPEX and OPEX would be much lower than Iuka because PTR will probably produce a "pseudo-rutilewet concentrate" rather than pure zircon & pure rutile. I would guess PTR might need AUD$300M to $400M for CAPEX (compare to SFX but more simple) and $200/t OPEX.
5. Therefore, if PTR can produce & sell products comprised of 25% rutile (this is not yet known) and 75% pseudo-rutile, they might earn US$900 per tonne (i.e. US$1800 x 25% plus US$600 x 75%). US$900/t or AUD$1400/t has a fabulous profit margin on costs of AUD$200/t. Even if we raise the OPEX to AUD$300/t and reduce the revenue to AUD$1,000/t, it is an incredible profit margin.
6. Why their OPEX will probably be low is because the mineralisation looks very good. The iron (Fe2O3) content is super low in relation to the titanium (TiO2). This is what makes what PTR have found so far to be very special. PTR has very little rubbish to remove and the wet concentrates should be a very pure "pseudo-rutile"/ilmenite comprised of 2 parts titanium to 1 part iron.
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