So when the dust settles neither company has presented a mass...

So when the dust settles neither company has presented a mass balance in their release but MEI confirms a 53% TREO recovery and VTM probably has a recovery somewhere in the low 20's.

MEI MREC grade is 98% RE carbonates and 2% impurities.

VTM MREC grade is ~17% RE carbonates and 80% impurities.

A basket price is stated for the stuff that matters and ignores the other stuff which may in part pay, may attract penalties or may render the concentrate unsaleable.

In my opinion the companies into rare earths rarely release unequivocal and easy to understand information. How do investors with no background in geology, metallurgy or mining make head or tail of the information released?

Who knows? There are plenty of numbers flying around in the not-so-rare-earth space and many ways to confuse oneself. I learned a fair bit in this tit for tat thanks.