Backhaul would help reduce the costs, as you only count $40/t...

Backhaul would help reduce the costs, as you only count $40/t product transport to port, whereas the other half of the $80/t is soaked up in the operating cost in bringing reagents to site. So I guess the same is true with APC under that form of accounting.

Royalty wise, and without a clear statement from the Minister, it depends whether the company can claim it is a concentrate (5%), or a bulk material (7.5%). In the vanadium sphere, despite some significant jiggery-pokery to produce V2O5, the royalty rate is higher than other similarly refined metals, because the Minister and the government have determined it doesn't meet the criteria for the lowest royalty rate.

So I guess you have to consider what discussions the companies may have made with the government, which is able to make various State Agreements in order to give royalty discounts in order to encourage mining and development of new resources. I mean, maybe sitting in an armchair and spouting off about this is not particularly accurate, but who am I to question?