I'm staying on topic, which is the definition and economic exploitation of Lynas's reserves including AP ore. In my opinion, this subject is key to Lynas long term investment. If you want to argue otherwise, you are free to do so and I welcome your input. If all you are going to do is whine and insult, go beat off instead.
(1) The upcoming resource update (first since 2015) is based on deep RC holes designed to define deeper AP ore, which will be added to current AP ore reserves.
(2) Lynas does not currently process AP ore. In fact, Lynas cannot currently process AP ore (at least not acceptably and likely not economically).
(3) In the past Lynas used a 7% COG effort AP ore reserves calculations. Without justification, they changed it to 4% or 4.5%, not sure which.
(4) Lynas claims a pre-flotation stage is required. Ausheds has dreamed up a mag sep stage from whole cloth, but Lynas has suggested a gravimetric separation might be possible, where faster-floating apatite particles would be excluded, but to date they have presented no support for this plan, no pilot study, no bench data, no capex/opex, nothing. It's just a suggestion at this point.
By the way, while Lynas has never publicly said anything about mag sep, it is a part of many REE ore processing schemes and it would be nice if it worked.
(5) Pre-flotation stage not as easy as it sounds:
a) Liberating the important REE-bearing minerals from the gangue is harder than it is for CZ/LI ore.
b) The density differential between the various minerals is not large
c) Putting a and b together means lousy recovery, a lower quality concentrate and elevated COP due to increases at every stage of the operation from Mt Weld to trucking/shipping to LAMP reagent consumption.
d) The only upside being that any increase in radioactivity content would be ameliorated by a concomitant increase in WLP waste volume.
(6) Are they moving ahead with AP ore? As I noted previously, there are indications that they are. The following is reasoned speculation on my part:
a) Higher throughput would allow lower grade AP ore to be processed fast enough to keep the LAMP supplied.
b) The new ball mill might have been needed/purchased with an eye to deal with AP ore, which will likely need to be milled to smaller size. Does anyone have details on new ball mill? NOTE: This could be preparation for mag sep or grav sep pre-flotation stage
c) The new flue liner and spray tower upgrades could be intended in part to deal with the more aggressive fluorine content of AP ore concentrate
d) The removal of FGD from Condisoil formulation could be in anticipation of its increasing fluorine content from AP ore processing (fluorine is not good for many plants)
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