I don't know the detail of what leasing/purchase/access arrangements ATR has in place with landholders at the Donald project, however on their website they state that within the total exploration/retention/mining licence area of 42,636 hectares (MIN5532 is 2,784 hectares), ATR currently own some 1,500 hectares freehold. They obviously have managed to arrange sufficient site access since acquiring the project in 2004 to undertake development activities to establish the JORC resource base which includes around 3000 drill holes and a bulk sample box cut and undertaken reclamation trials.
While you are correct in saying that Goschen has a higher REE grades in the HM (3.3% monazite/.6% xenotime v. 1.9% mon/.65% xen for Donald), as Donald has a far higher total HM resources (1,801Mt v. 629Mt for Goschen) and better HM grades (4.6% v. 2.9% for Goschen), the total in-situ REE mineral resource is far higher at Donald with 1.58Mt of monazite and 540Kt of xenotime v. 610Kt mon/110Kt for Goschen (my calculations), with a higher proportion of xenotime, which is a far more valuable mineral than monazite due to it's higher content of HREE's and it's lower typical thorium/radionuclides content. Donald also is targeting production of 7.5Mt of HM per annum v. 5Mt for Goschen and is revenue weighted approx. 50/50 RE's to zircon/titanium.
My understanding is that VHM's offtake is only at MOU stage and therefore not binding, and while ATR have not announced any offtake agreements they do have an established mineral sands processing and distribution business in PRC, so undoubtedly they will be consuming a reasonable proportion of Donald production in-house.
Added to the fact that the Donald project is far more advanced re. permitting with a mining lease, EES, cultural heritage/native title, water permits and radiation licence all in place and a current market cap of $93m v. $230m for VHM, even with the share register and governance issues identified at ATR I still can't see how you could objectively conclude that VHM offers greater value to investors than ATR.
To mix my metaphors; Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so love the one you're with!
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