Congratulations Rob. You have finally realised one of the...

Congratulations Rob. You have finally realised one of the biggest problems that Makuuta faces; Anybody who expects the price of Rare Earths to go up over 100% within the next five years is dreaming; And a >100% rise is what is needed for Makuuta to become anywhere near economically viable.

As well as the contraction in Terbium demand, there is also the prospect of several Major deposits (PRE,PEK, ARU, MEI) coming on line within the next 2-3 years, which will tend to stabilise the supply/demand equation at around US$100/kg for NdPr. Unfortunately for Makuuta there is going to be a double whammy for you as there won't be a corresponding rise in the other RE prices, because the massive co-production of the other 15 RE's from those two or three Majors will totally swamp those markets.

So in three to five years time, IF Makuuta gets built and IF NdPr reachs US$100/kg; most of your Basket Case revenue (per ton/ore) is going to be from that 90gms NdPr/ton (US$9), While I think somebody has already established that your OPEX will be closer to US$15/t.

But as you keep on telling everybody, we must wait for the BFS after the Pilot plant economies are determined. ..........

Bye the way, did you see that claim by ARR that Bayan Obo's OPEX for producing NdPr is US$38/kg ? and they are only processing tailings dams so that cost is mostly for processing/refining not mining !