There's a lot to unpack here, but here goes:1. The original...

There's a lot to unpack here, but here goes:

1. The original anticipated commercial model does not work for the grain growers, and basically the timeline for Stage I looks to have slipped. The grain growers sound like a pain in the ar*e to deal with too, and are still figuring out how to organise themselves
2. Stage I could either go ahead as a reduced capex model or get scrapped if the economics don't work - likewise, Stage II could get accelerated if the multi-commodity commercial model stacks up better.
3. IRD is planning to run an EOI for green hydrogen during 1H22 and has received strong interest from multiple North Asian groups including 'green iron' pellet manufacturing. It is interesting that Portalis does not mention anything about green hydrogen in their announcement, perhaps they are more focused on achieving Stage I and the grain grower pathway, perhaps there's some tension between the JD parties around the development pathway for Cape Hardy?
4. The stakeholder relationship with indigenous parties is good, but why wouldn't it be when they get a royalty out of doing nothing

It's a slow burn here, but the ' green iron' and ESG themes around higher grades of iron in the steel making process are not going away, so neither am I.

What I'm not exactly clear on is who is obligated to do what by when under the JDA, but its clear that both parties have requirements:

- Portalis needs to meet IRD's requirement that any smaller Stage I development under $250m needs to be scaleable to support the future needs of the CEIP and TIMING of the larger Stage II project - so there's an imposed deadline here from IRD
- IRD needs to meet certain pre-requisites around getting approvals and removing encumbrances for the port development

I think reading between the lines - IRD wants to scrap Stage I altogether and go straight to Stage II.