CAPEX I'd be estimating $300m AUD for a 10 mtpa crush + heap...

CAPEX I'd be estimating $300m AUD for a 10 mtpa crush + heap leach plant (July 2023 costing). This comes from the Apollo Hill PEA - https://saturnmetals.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/230807-Apollo-Hill-Preliminary-Economic-Assessment.pdf. They had $40m in there for an accommodation camp as Apollo Hill is about 300 km North of Kalgoorlie (i.e. middle of nowhere). Assuming about $40m for the extra tanks in the back end for Sybella to make mixed rare earth carbonate, so should come out at about the same overall CAPEX as Apollo Hill with a camp. This CAPEX is also about the same as IXR on a per tonne throughput basis.

Compare that CAPEX to the recent Acalara Resources Carina PEA https://assets-global.website-files.com/6267a587be31507747a1c8b6/65aebbed8b366c4e97f4c1f9_PR_Carina%20Module_PEA%20VF_clean_2.pdf, which uses a tank leach process in Brazil (same as MEI, VMM) at 10 mtpa. The CAPEX came out at a whopping $800m AUD, so nearly three times the Apollo Hill heap leach in middle of WA. The CAPEX benefit for heap leaching is incredible, especially when you are talking 5 mtpa+.

So for the same revenue and the same OPEX, IRR for a heap leach will be significantly higher.. or put another way, a low CAPEX heap leach process can get off the ground (>20% IRR) at a much lower rare earth price, such as we are currently seeing with the current $50 USD/kg Nd2O3 prices.

Note: nearly all recent studies are using ~$150 USD/kg Nd2O3 input prices (IXR, Aclara Carina, PEK), so when you start using the same price assumptions as those studies for a Sybella case it comes back with some ridiculous IRR and NPV outputs!