Yes Lynas is a strategic asset to many countries not just the...

If you want to say cost of sales decreased 17 % that is fine with me. It is highly misleading. First cost per ton produced rose. 2023 AUD 400M / 16,800KG = AUD 23.80 KG , 2024 $331/ 10,908 KG = $30 KG . So cost per KG clearly went up.
Now cost per KG of NDPR did go down. 2023 $400M/ 6142 = $60, 2024 331/ 5655= $58, -4%

Before we consider which to use lets look ing at yearly averages to see what happened 2023 NdPrO % was 38%, 2024 54%. This is not the entire story Q1 2023 it was 30% Q4 2024 it was 68%. Showing a big increase over 2 years. I agree with your statement "That certainly doesn't mean they are walking away from Ce/La products or trying to maximise their value." So I will use the cost per KG of all REE products. You do what you think is best.


Next what is happening to overall cost they are going up? Look at admin 2023 $54.2 M. 2014 $61.4M a increase of 11%.
Depreciation is a real sleeper. ( see note A1) CAP X does not start depreciating until it is used. depreciation came down this year. which is good. There is going to be a big impact over next two years as items start to be used. KAL $840M I believe they did not process any ore till July just to keep this off of the 2024 ledger. Look for and add to next years expenses of $840M / 20 = $42M / Yr. plus PDF Mt weld & Lamp improvement There is not enough data to be exact. Lets take a guess.
1.4 M of CapX from 2022 to 2024. Lets say only 70% is subject to depreciations in FY 2025. $1400 M X .7 = $1B/ 20 years = $50M more depreciations next year. Expenses will be a lot more next year than ever before in Lynas history. If you think expenses are coming down in FY 2025 then show me how.

Yes Lynas is a strategic asset to many countries not just the US. What do you consider the value of that for FY2025? Nice words but without a valuation what is it worth? China right now has lowered REE prices and now is letting them rise slowly. So we compare the strategic value to China's control and this is what we have so far from Lynas. JMO does not look like that Strategic asset is helping much. It sounds so good but is it relevant to performance?

For me it comes down to two things Sell price and cost. REE is worthless in the ground. Its value is what it can sell for minus the cost to dig it up and process it. Everything else is just a distraction. Remember "KISS"