Saying that QPM is a margin business would be stretching that definition to its limits. Yes we are buying ore and refining it, but laterite ores (saprolite and limonite) are cheap and plentiful, whereas high purity sulfates are scarce and expensive.
In the PFS, the costs of buying and shipping the ore was estimated at 46m$ Aud for 600kt, 7$/lb Ni spot price and 0.68 aud/usd.
If we readjust linearly for 1.5mt, 9.2$/lb Ni spot price and 0.75 aud/usd. We get rough ore procuring and shipping costs around 137m$ aud.
These 137m$ of ore will be transformed and refined into final products worth around a billion $aud every year.
There's a debate if it is still called a margin business when the margin is over 85%.
