The thing I can't see past with these Rare Earth companies...

The thing I can't see past with these Rare Earth companies around the Esperance area (MRD, OD6, MEK) is they can have a great REE deposit but the logistics of dealing with a highly profitable cropping region and strip mining the land that produces such large revenue for the district and farmers themselves, these companies are going to have a hell of a time and cost to negotiate with landowners.
Circle Valley alone - I know this farmland is very profitable - see rough numbers for compensation.
Area of mining (based on the resource area alone) = 1800 Ha (reduced based on arable hectares not including the salt lakes)
Ave wheat price AUD per tonne = $350
Ave yield per hectare for circle valley = 3.5 t/ha
Revenue for the area = $1.9mill
say 50% as a cost to put crop in = Profit $950,000 per year - assumed $1 Million per year paid to landowner as compensation- Minimum is what i would take!

That's an expensive outlay yearly and that is very base case. And if someone tries to say that they can strip the topsoil and replace it after mining, that just won't work with such a delicate soil structure that exists and has been managed and fed specific nutrients for generations to produce a decent crop.
Until i see serious feasibilty work on the practicalities of this process and real numbers of royalties/compensation these REE companies are going nowhere anytime soon.
But then again maybe Money Talks and the NPV of the project will grow beyond the initial numbers and be an easy payment for the project? who knows. I hold MEK from the gold stand point but may not hold much longer REE is a long way away in this area.