I'm sorry, but there is just no point comparing different commodities in this context - it's apples and oranges. Yes, it may be a DSO product that doesn't require plant processing, but Beebyn-W11 still differs from AN in many ways that make a comparison between the two a bit pointless;1) Iron Ridge being an open pit iron ore project requires drill&blast, load and haulage, etc. Comparatively, our silica sand deposits involve.. digging up the sand. No drilling, no blasting.
2) Beebyn-W11 has a strip ratio of 2.2:1. So for every tonne of ore dug, they're having to dig 2.2
tonnes of waste. Does AN even have a "strip ratio", as such? What, having to transfer the 30cm of topsoil using the VDT method to get to the grading silica? Again, not really comparable.3) Beebyn-W11 has a life of mine of 6.7 years. Arrowsmith North has a life of mine of 25-100+ years.4) Didn't AN already get native title agreement last year? So it's not like that's going to be holding us back from any of the other milestones.
5) the capital raisings for Iron Ridge to fund project development - Bruce has indicated/implied on multiple occasions that project funding is likely to come from investment partners, not from shareholders.
I get what you're saying about some of these milestones being potentially relevant for us, but the difference between the two commodities and their mining method is pretty distinct, and so the associated timelines don't really make sense for our operation. If Arrowsmith North takes 685 days to go from EPA approvals to first ore, I will film myself eating a bucket of sand. It simply won't take that long.
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