With a shout out to point 4, Looking at a hard rock source...

With a shout out to point 4,
Looking at a hard rock source example by POSCO's claims last year and picking a random let's say '7k t p/tonne profit', It would equate to Ex China/IRA (South Korea processing) for example could be as low as ~ 27-28k (Capex K per tonne: 18k processing inf$/t + 2-3k mining inf$/t + 7k(profit))
But with the majority of it being likely from USA, more similar to AUS, ('Pre any potential US Grants') at ~ 39- 40k (30k + 2-3k + 7k(profit))

There's a reason CEO's are talking about 'Flavours' of Lithium



Source - FinancialReview source May 2023

“When comparing the economic feasibility of the lithium hydroxide business, Korea is superior to Australia,” said a POSCO spokesman, pointing to the cost of the lithium hydroxide plants built by Tianqi and Albemarle at Western Australia’s Kwinana and Kemerton hubs respectively.
“The investment cost per tonne of production in Korea is 40 per cent lower than the Kwinana and Kemerton projects in Western Australia ($US18,000 a tonne in Korea versus $US30,000 a tonne in Australia).

(and I'm assuming those figures used include the OPEX)


Source - PLS Expansion below source equated to around 2.2k US$p/t investment cost (used 2-3 factoring that was an 'expansion')