A bit of envelope work. I know high grade vanadium oxide is the...

A bit of envelope work.

I know high grade vanadium oxide is the main play here, but just trying to figure out the accessory products at Koitelainen.

From what I gather, graded chromite ore sells for about 350-400 USD atm (a fraction of smelted ferrochrome at $2800). At 14.4%, there's 10Mt of contained chromite, a possible $3.5B IGV. One of the world's major ferro-chrome smelters is down the road at Outokumpu, about 300Km on established roads and possibly rail. Perhaps they are at full capacity, who knows. Then there's 2.4M oz of PGEs, IGV of about 2.1B.

Ex: Assuming 90% Cr recovery, and 75% PGEs, a 2Mt operation could generate up to:
259Kt chromite @ $350 = 90M
51Koz PGEs @ $900 = 45M

Stainless steel is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5%. There's a potential 90M in revenue p/a from the contained chromite with a mine life of around 35 years. However, I don't know the chromium to iron ratio of the ore, which is a smelter condition for its viability as a ferrochrome precursor (>1.8:1). It is also below the 38% grade needed for DSO. Or the processing cost, which would be presumably higher than a simple chromite mine, to beneficiate the finer elements separately.

The previous owner of Koitelainen, Tasman, saw it as a chromite play. Perhaps they were too early to see the ferrochrome price rise 50%. The **bro layer covering the Koitelainen chromite intrusion was noted only for its 0.2% V on the way to chromite land. PUR now refers to this as Koitelainen V, UC being Upper Chromite.

So is it possible to start a chromite/PGE mine immediately while stockpiling and waiting for a vanadium market to develop? And offset the costs of processing the vanadium? On the other hand, the project's reorientation around vanadium is what makes the top surface layer ore actually valuable.

From Tasman's report:

"Based on its economic importance to European industry and a high risk of supply disruption, both chromium and PGE’s are defined as “critical” raw materials within recent European Commission (EC) publications (see: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/raw-materials/critical/index_en.htm), in line with the balance of Tasman’s existing project portfolio."