The Dawn of EV, page-1147

So we have basically returned to a similar price point to when they commissioned the last shipment. This doesn't make shipping costs in circa 50kt volumes any worse than before, but accepted the improvement on circa US$31/t has temporarily disappeared.

Iron ore prices are up a little from their recent low's which indicates demand is returning for iron ore which is good for the Mn price outlook.

Also there is around two months before E25 is likely to be looking at shipping again so day to day swings in the price during a period when E25 are neither shipping or looking to commission a ship don't change immediate cash flows.

If the current modifications are successful in achieving name plate production levels, they will have around 50kt of ore ready to ship in mid-Feb. A second shipment is possible towards the end of March. It may prove economic to ship in larger 80-100kt volumes, and thank you for confirming that Port Hedland can do the Mini-Cap ships required for this. While the loading and unloading times would increase, the daily charge isn't that much larger. With a loading time of one day for 43kt, the loading time would appear to be around two day's or just over this for a larger volume. Shipping costs may therefore be able to be cut nearer US$20/t (60c/dmtu).

If we assume the current Mn price remains around current levels, the pricing starting point is US$5.60 and shipping would reduce this to $5.00/dmtu.

The PFS allowed for US$4.37. As long as the combination of grade discounts and smelter credits is less 63c/dmtu we are at PFS. The PFS estimated smelter credits at 65c on 85% (55c/dmtu blended average). This means there is an initial cash payment grade discount of US$1.18 can still enable PFS. Is it higher or lower than this, that's still not clear.

Expenses have the cost per DMTU when at name plate coming in under US$3/dmtu. That's now looking a lot more like a >US$1/dmtu profit margin (around or above A$50/t @ 0.70). Looking forward to July 2022 and beyond the plan is to be producing 1MT. Which would give an operating profits around A$50m. Not bad for a loss making mine.