"ALK is a joke, how many years has it been pilot testing REEs at...

"ALK is a joke, how many years has it been pilot testing REEs at Dubbo - or should I ask how many decades ....."
Your post is a joke. Having a working pilot plant that has treated tons of ore in diverse configurations is a huge plus for Alk ccompared to its competitors. Alk has sent samples weighing 100s of kg to ShinEtsu, and they treated them successfully in their plant- Which is why we have a MoU with them.

"here is a news flash for you ... these projects can't be bought into production until all the metallurgy test work has been completed"
Here is a News Flash for you: The DZP isn't a REE project. It's a polymetalic Project. As far as Zirconium products are concerned, we'll produce 3-4 differerent ones. For some, we already have buyers- The above discussion was about a new product to be added to the product range, giving us more options. Only a professional downramper could consider that as a negative.

"a billion in capex .... they have no hope of raising the money imo"
Interestingly neither ShinEtsu nor Fidelity agree with you. Maybe they are just waisting their time? But condsidering that ShinEtsu made a 1,7 Billion US$ op profit last year alone, and Fidelity has >1,5 Trillion US$ AUM, I somehow value their opinion on the feasability of financing a tiny bit higher than yours ... /s

"more to the point, you could fund some much better projects for much less capex spend "
You know other projects that will bring in 25% of spent capital as op profit year for year over 70+ years? Please let us know; I'd sure like to invest in those once Alk has gone to $5 ...

Oh, and btw, for Fidelity any project below 100 mio investment doesn't make too much sense when you are dealing with the problem of investing a trillion and a half ... it's actually it's size that make s the DZP most interesting for Fidelity (Warren B tend only to invest in situations where he can put down a billion at once - similar problem)