I've just been going over the numbers of another Niobium...

I've just been going over the numbers of another Niobium hopeful, GBE in this case, who put out an updated presentation last week. They plan to mine a grade of 3000ppm or 0.3% grade ore.

Their phase 2 is what's interesting in terms of capital costs. A 1,459,000 t/yr processing plant and the appropriate sized refinery has a capital cost of $US316 which will produce 3,396Tonnes of Nb2O5. They plan to produce Niobium pentoxide not FerroNiobium, with a tantalum byproduct, plus claim a 75% recovery.

If we were to use their numbers on our ore, but using a 2.22% ore grade (7 times their ore grade) at the same recovery we would get 23,722 tonnes of Niobium pentoxide (larger than current world market for this product) and using their prices ($US50,000/t Nb2O5 ) would be $A1,744B/yr. (not going to happen!!)

Their feasibility study (I couldn't find what type, they just mention "feasibility study") was completed in 2021 and they plan to have a BFS completed in Q1 next year (which should have fairly reliable capital costs!!).

While labor costs in Australia are going to be higher, the capital cost of equipment itself should be around the same no matter where.

Just another small piece of the puzzle overall. If you were a financier, would you prefer to fund a mine in Africa at 0.3% grade or a mine in Australia at 2.2% grade with capital costs being close to each other, for the same commodity???