The article is also based on a capex figure of $700 million. If that can be reduced significantly, to say around $350 million, things don't stack up as badly as this article suggests.
KAI Pilbara Minerals buys land off Kairos part of its York gold project for $20M – and a 2% royalty on any PLS gold sales
MND Albemarle lithium downsize burns $200M hole in Monadelphous's pocket as latter's contracts terminated