'Pilot plants can prove the theory and design. But doesn't mean...

'Pilot plants can prove the theory and design. But doesn't mean when you go full scale it will be perfect first go. Some things take years to find the root cause.'

Therein is the root cause. Generally one builds a pilot plant first to prove the concept, and then the larger plant to include the lessons learnt.

For whatever reason LYC decided to bet the house on an untested plant on a scale not achieved previously, I believe.

As as been stated the ore is very different to what is found in China and thus the plant type was untested in this scale. Most engineers, especially chemical, knows that things just don't scale in a linear fashion. What works on the bench and in small batches often does not work too well in very large production runs.

However NC did a great job in convincing SH that they had all under control with 'agreements' from Rhodia et al. Maybe without NC then LYC would have gone bust a long time ago.