I'm not so negative about Nifty. There is a lot of copper there...

I'm not so negative about Nifty. There is a lot of copper there and the grades are very much on the high side, globally speaking. Australian mining cost structure is high with very high wages, etc. I read somewhere a driller can make 200-250k a year. Its hot dirty and hard though. The 1-1.5% grades were not high enough with difficult ground conditions underground. More recent exploratory drilling was coming up with a long series around 2.5%. That's almost or is bonanza by world copper industry standards, but it is down deeper and getting there was not possible while loosing money hand over fist.
The open cut plan looks very viable, especially given that the plant is ready to roll. An overburden ratio of 7:1 is hair raising to a mining tyro like me, but apparently that's pretty OK comparatively. speaking and cost wise. The waste does not have to go far. I suppose some bright miner/professional might soon work out how to get at some of that very high grade ore underground some way down the track.
Yes, its going to need more tens of millions up front, $40-60 mill, but to relaunch it as a very payable operation means hundreds of millions in investment already there will not be lost. Who knows what copper prices are going to do in the near future, but ore of this standard has to be payable with the right strategy.
In a few years MLX could have two operations producing good money, and a third even better in the form of Rentails on the front burner. Then there is the Wingellina nickel wild card.