The example of the bank is to highlight the opportunity cost....

The example of the bank is to highlight the opportunity cost. QOL could have earnt 7.5 % at the bank instead of investing it into this dog of a project.

" Examples with putting money in the bank is cuckooland stuff "

No it isn't this is QOLs opportunity cost. They could have gone and done this insead of Wolfram.

What it shows is this company needs to generate cash flows of greater than $47 million after tax after 10 years for it to even equal that of putting the money in the bank.

Year 0 (NOW) = - $33 million

"Sunk Capex mean squat"

Yes for a prospective buyer who looks at future cash flows and the residual value of the plant when looking to purhcase Wolfram. They are not concerened about how much it cost in the past!

BUT

This company HAD A CHOICE in the FUTURE. They had 33 million on hand and decided to go down this path.

What for! They could have made more at the bank!