Not quite sure if I have understoood your query correctly , and why the "reservation on the capability" of the Nd/Pr has arisen , Geeenius ....but according to the March 2023 Quarterly released 26th April 2023
. ASM was now tracking OK with that :
EditNow that commissioning of both the NdPr metal furnaces and the NdFeB strip alloy caster is successfully
completed, ramp-up will progress in alignment with customer demand and the completion of sales
agreements.
Negotiations are advancing with potential customers for both NdPr metal and NdFeB strip alloy in the US,
Japan, Europe and Korea. The market will be updated when binding agreements are concluded.
So it will be interesting to see what this July Quarterly update reveals .
Part of the several criticisms of the previous MD , was that the cart was always put before the horse .
An example of that was the supply of rare earth raw materials ..you can't use , nor ramp up , the production facility with product raw materials . Limitations on raw materials , only allow samples to be produced and distributed .
Since the March Quarterly , Agreements have been sigend with the Vietnamese Rare Earth Oxide supplier , and to provide Nd alloys to Noveon in the USA .
Both were good signs , as regards the process chain being "rectified ", albeit in a modest and as yet unquatified commercial ( qas regards profit ) way .
The Observations regarding other potential Mineral separations like Niobium ..perhaps another criticism of the prvious MD in not exploring these markets --altho to be fair , expanding the Pilot Plant to test that ( and again secure raw material supply ) , was down the priority chain .
I always was of the view , that the Titanium received the first priority ramp up , because the raw material could be readily sourced .
I may well be "off the mark "here ...and apologies if I have misunderstood your post ....but I still have the view that the KMP process technology is a clear break thru in technology ---and as rarae earths become more and more in demand , the Plant will be replicated in other international places .The previous MD spent 18 months selling that VISION ...just three year too early , and you can't sell thin air ! Time would have been better spent consumating the Dubbo Plant build at Toongi --so we had separated rare earth concentrate or oxides , available now for this hungry Rare Earth market .
AIMHO
(20min delay)