The DFS is extremely overdue, in considering the ever evolving...

The DFS is extremely overdue, in considering the ever evolving big picture might it first have needed to be adjusted to accomodate the planned addition in feed for the refinery to the IRA compliant ore from Canada which BSX were trying to arrange late last year by buying another mine there? In the best case scenario right now it might need to be adjusted again to reflect possible new sources of feed caused by the BHP shutdown. There's nickel sulphides looking for new processing options and it looks likely that the economics might favour something along the lines of refining Australian concentrate in the low cost jurisdiction of Vietnam in order to compete with Indonesian (Chinese controlled) nickel and battery materials. Something has to happen to both keep the Australian critical minerals industry alive and secure Australian battery supply chains and it's not just nickel that's affected, Lynas now needs to find a new source of sulphuric acid as a result of the BHP shutdown for it's rare earths refinery at Kalgoorlie so the Government has to come up with something to keep it all alive, given the importance of critical minerals they must manage this situation somehow to save jobs and establish those supply chains. Could BSX be tapped to assist? It might be premature to release the DFS without any new details (hopefully) currently being negotiated over feed sources for the refinery being worked into it.

Given the value locked up in Australian critical minerals, and the critical need for secure battery supply chains for this country the $850m BSX needs to find seems to be a paltry sum, particularly when considering the figure already allocated by Government under the Critical Minerals Fund. The Government will be looking very closely at it's options and I can't see a better or more economical one than processing Australian minerals into battery precursors in Vietnam in an Australian controlled, ESG compliant refinery which will go a long way towards helping Australia achieve it's climate change goals. The Ambassador to Vietnam must surely be working very closely with the Vietnamese Government to make this happen in the changing political environment there, if not what is he for? He's been all over this for a long time now, will the changing leadership situation there be the catalyst for action? If our MD isn't having urgent meetings with our Minister for Resources and companies affected by the BHP shutdown I'd be surprised. Hooking BASF into a supply deal after they walked away from their investment in Indonesia would be in the Australian Governments best interests too, it would be a major coup, there must be incentives they can come up with to make that happen.