Sybella Benchmarking vs Peers, page-25

Rare earths aren't rare, it's being able to economically extract them that is. Olympic Dam is one of the largest known deposits or REE globally, and there is a huge tailings dam already mined, crushed and milled sitting there. But because the rare earths are hard rock minerals (monazite/xenotime) BHP still haven't found a way to extract them economically. From the 2023 Rare Earths conference at ANU:

Hard rock is incredibly difficult to process economically - Lynas aren't particularly profitable and they have a 5.4% REO head grade at Mt Weld!! That's the above grade that ARR reckon they can get after going through beneficiation, and Lynas are getting it straight out the ground. And they still struggle to make positive cashflow unless REO prices are USD $100/kg Nd+. I'll be interested to see how ARR reckon they can make a profit on a 0.3% REO head grade given they are the same monazite/xenotime type deposit as Mt Weld - maybe they will do an IXR and assume a $200 USD/kg NdPr price in their study

Lynas financial performance at $60 USD/kg NdPr average, and this doesn't include the massive sustaining capital given their plant/s cost in the billions.