Tony is not going to go into a JV even with Glencore. Someone...

Tony is not going to go into a JV even with Glencore. Someone with very deep pockets has to fund this. The game plan is to prove that this is an unique resource. Paul and sidekick Paul have done that. They have shown that they have high FE product with very low impurities. With minimal process and OPEX. One of three deposits worldwide at the present.
It is a process and requires plant to dig it up and then concentrate it and then pelletise it. That needs a lot of CAPEX. With a deposit of 7.3 billion tonnes there is scope to cover the CAPEX. However it is a egg or the chicken deal whereas the specific furnaces need to be built to take up the demand for these higher grade iron ore pellets. So we are stuck with only 20Mtpa until higher demand occurs. They could build up to 100 Mtpa and have over 65 years mine life without proving more on the site. At that rate the CAPEX is well and truly covered.
The hassle is that the logistics need work. and therefore the logistics need CAPEX. But these are third party operators. They will not absorb the cost with low volumes, so the mine operator will have extra CAPEX costs. There are ways to fund this but the burden maybe there. The rail is run by three different operators. They are at capacity or near capacity. The first two rail operators can increase by adding sidings. Additional capacity can be made by more sidings and scheduling. BHP have single lines at over 300Mtpa.
The third rail line would have to be twinned. The port is at capacity and will need duplication or a new port at a different location.
At a point there can be too much CAPEX to make the project viable. Or extra demand has to be found and the project output is doubled or trebled.

This large amount of CAPEX is why CLE cannot JV the project with anyone. They can continue to prove the value of the resource by solving the logistics. They can then sell the resource to an end user or a large miner. They need to sell at a figure way north of your suggest $35M. It would be an absolute bargain at 30 times that figure, but I doubt that they would get that price. But they should not sell for less than 15 times that price and a royalty.