AFR24/3. “We have the processing knowledge. What we don’t have...

AFR24/3.

“We have the processing knowledge. What we don’t have is the processing incentive,” Kim Beazley, a former federal opposition. ..and ambassador to the US, says of Australia’s goal of creating a downstream processing industry for critical minerals, specifically rare earths.“Australia can [create a processing industry] if people are prepared to invest money without expecting any major returns, if any, for a period of time,” he says. “We’ve got to be what we once were, which is strategic. We’ve got to be what the Chinese are now, which is strategic. The market won’t resolve any of this.”

To hell with the immediate economics just build the thing and the $$ will follow theory is IMO a sound strategy . COB and the Feds should be following now . The wind is gone out of Joes sails as we dither around with approvals and different directions name changes and phantom JV . No guts no glory or miss the tide are the options open .
The perfect storm is here DRC reduction in production ,increasing price, futures prospects of Russia being persona non grata for a very long time even with a truce Likewise China . Stockpiling of cobalt by investment/ trading house/s, No cobalt mining in USA, on closure of Jervois mine, limited threats of peace in the Ukraine, sword rattling in the EU as Germany rebuilds its defence and manufacturing capacity likewise UK& France Indo changing royalty structure on nickel /cobalt Finally constant ESG requirements which despite Trumpstonia will IMO will remain a global constant in the thinking world giving COB sovereign advantage
PS the DRC will never get it right .Trumpstonia will never get Greenland and even if he does the environmentalist will muck him around for years Finally there is a prospect that the EU will restrict delivery of rare earths to Trumpstonia as part of a protracted tariff war.